Re: Emacs learning curve

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Tom <address@hidden>
> Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2010 10:36:46 +0000 (UTC)
> 
> Is there a compelling reason to still use yank/kill, instead of 
> copy/cut/paste?

>From the Emacs manual:

  * Killing::           Killing (cutting) text.
  * Yanking::           Recovering killed text.  Moving text. (Pasting.)

and then:

    12 Killing and Moving Text
    **************************

    "Killing" means erasing text and copying it into the "kill ring", from
    which you can bring it back into the buffer by "yanking" it.  (Some
    applications use the terms "cutting" and "pasting" for similar
    operations.)

> Why do we call the cursor the point?

Because point is not the cursor.  The cursor only shows the position
of point in the visible windows (and on character terminals, only in
the single selected window).  We still need a term for the ``current
position in the buffer''.

> These relics of old terminology should be updated to the accepted modern
> variants to make the documentation is more accessible for emacs newbies.

And then they will be queuing up to start using Emacs, no doubt.