Re: Codifications of rules

[Stefan Monnier]

>> It binds TAB to ruby-indent-line. That is against the rules. ;-)
> Out of curiosity, are 'rules' like this codified anywhere?

Not much, sadly.  There Elisp manual has a section about coventions to
follow for major modes, so the info should be there, but there's a lot
more conventions than the documented ones.

But as a general rule, if you want key K to do something it's preferable
to do it by setting some variables that affect K's default binding than
by rebinding it to another command.

I.e. better set indent-line-function, fill-paragraph-function,
completion-at-point-functions, rather than rebing TAB, M-q , M-TAB, ...

The general goal should be to make it easier for a user to state
global preferences that affect all modes.

> As I've started using Emacs seriously again, I've started noticing
> a lot of little inconsistencies between extensions (e.g., how
> temporary windows are displayed/destroyed).  I'd be happy to submit
> patches to help improve this if someone could point out the
> correct behavior.

These are usually welcome here (although they also tend to be delicate
because users get quickly used to the old behavior and then show
resistance to change).


        Stefan