[climacs-devel] Couple of first impressions

[Troels Henriksen]

I've commented on some of these issues on #lisp, I'm also replying
here to save my comments for posterity, and other readers of the list.

>  * Making Isearch Forward (C-s) available in Help buffers.

Complicated, as help windows are not buffers, but typeout panes.

>  * Instead of always opening a new buffer, updating an already existing
>    one. E.g when doing `C-h b', or `M-x Apropos Command' several times
>    in a row.

This shouldn't be too hard to implement, actually.

>  * Auto resizing Help buffers to minimum height.

This neither. In fact, it might be a good project for someone trying
to get their bearings on Climacs' internal structure (*hint* *hint*).

>  * Something like `toggle-debug-on-error': I.e. the facility to /not/
>    automatically invoke the debugger when something bad happens. (Bonus
>    point if the backtrace is saved in some special buffer.)

I'm not sure I want this. Applications that just trap anything that
goes wrong and spits out a stack trace to a console remind me of
Java. Why wouldn't you want the debugger the pop up when something bad
happens? Climacs doesn't follow Emacs' philosophy of using unhandled
errors as a way of communicating with the user.

>  * A tutorial (or, actually, Climacs Primer for Emacs boys) on `C-h
>  t'

Also a feasible starting project, though it might perhaps be *too*
simple. Anyway, the tutorial would have to be written.

>  * Making `C-h b' more pervasive. E.g. it doesn't work on the miniprompt
>    (e.g. after simply typing `M-x'.)

This is slightly complicated, as the minibuffer is not strictly a part
of Climacs. In general, why is this useful?

>  * To get a list of completion choices, you've got to right
>    click. Better bind that to `TAB TAB'.

McCLIM issue (and I agree, does the spec actually demand that we do
not provide useful possibilities-gestures?).

>  * The Completion Choice popup is obnoxious. It's on top of everything
>    else, and stays there. Even when I try to switch workspaces in
>    Gnome.

McCLIM issue.

>  * Completing filenames in Find File (C-x f) doesn't recognize symlinks
>    (i.e. does not complete for.) Although, strangely, it does recognize
>    /broken/ symlinks.

McCLIM issue.

>  * Pressing `M-p' at the Find File, or the M-x prompt results in a
>    NO-APPLICABLE-METHOD error.

Investigating this right now, probably McCLIM issue, at worst ESA issue.

-- 
\  Troels
/\ Henriksen