[mac-lisp-ide] multiple-choice question

[Paul Wallich]

> Duncan Rose wrote:
> On Wednesday, February 18, 2004, at 12:04 PM, Gary Byers wrote:
> 
>> Which of the following paradigms would people most like to see in a Mac
>> lisp IDE ?  (As used below, the term "window" means what [X]Emacs would
>> call a "frame", i.e., a window-system window, and the term "view" means
>> about what [X]Emacs would call a "window": some portion of a 
>> window-system
>> window used to present a buffer and associated info (modeline, etc.)).
>>
>> a) traditional Mac/Cocoa behavior, where there's typically a 1:1
>> relationship between a buffer and a window and usually a single view
>> per window; the distinction between a buffer/view/window is often
>> nearly (and sometimes completely) blurred.
>>
>> b) traditional [X]Emacs behavior, where buffers can be presented in
>> arbitrary views in arbitrary windows.
>>
>> c) (a) and (b) aren't mutually exclusive: the two paradigms can be
>> integrated in an intuitive, usable fashion (perhaps by noting that
>> (a)'s pretty much a proper subset of (b)).  This is an essay question.
>>
>> d) both (a) and (b) are worth supporting, but they don't mix too well:
>> a global preference should give the user a choice between (a) and (b).
>>
>> e) none of the above
>>
>> I personally lean towards (c), but I'm still working on the essay
>> question.  I think that it's fair to say that (a)'s simpler to fit
>> into the Cocoa document-based application model, but I think that
>> that model's general enough to support (b) as well.
>>
> 
> I'd vote for (c) too. Failing that, (b) alone would be my preference. 
> But then, I've only recently started using Macs so maybe I'll change my 
> mind with more exposure to "the Apple way".

Another vote for (c) here, with the note that (a) is not a subset of (b) 
unless you implement it that way. My concern is to have transparent 
access to the stuff in the windows from whatever lisp code I happen to 
hack together, and in my limited experience the very tempting route of 
using the cocoa text-handling functions to get something working quickly 
  can make that transparency difficult.

paul