[External] : Re: Gitlab Migration

[Drew Adams]

> If we started Emacs from a clean slate today,
> we would obviously have put kill-region on C-x.

Would we?  Maybe, maybe not.

Pro: Killing text is similar to cutting text.

Con: It's not the same thing.  The `kill-ring'
     is not what non-emacsers are used to.

This is similar to the pros & cons for words
in different languages that look the same or
similar, and may (or may not) have similar
meanings and uses, but can nevertheless be
quite different in some respects.

In French they're called "faux amis" - fake
friends.

 They can help you by giving you an idea
 what they mean (immediate recognition).

 They can hurt you if you just use them with
 the same expectation/understanding you have
 for them in your original language.

> We would in my opinion do well to take
> opportunities to make Emacs behave more in
> line with modern user expectations.

Again, yes & no.  We should look for what is
good - an improvement - not just for what is
currently popular.

Think Lisp versus the many "modern" languages
that were most popular at one time (Basic,
Pascal,...).  Lisp is as old-hat as they get.
(Fortran is only slightly older.)  It's still
a great language, and a lot better than the
Best-Of-Show languages that have won Blue
Ribbons over the decades.

We should consider adopting (and improving!)
something that provides real improvement, not
just something that's the flavor of the month
(or the decade).