Re: Emacs CC Mode's auto-newline facility: INFORMAL SURVEY RESULTS

[Alan Mackenzie]

[Followup-To: set to gnu.emacs.help once again]

In gnu.emacs.help Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> wrote:

> To help direct the development of CC Mode, it would be useful to find
> out how people use the auto-newline "minor mode" facility.  If you
> could spare a little time, would you answer these questions, please:

A big thank you to all who responded, including another 7 who answered me
by email.

OK: Here are the results (Sometimes with a little necessary
interpretation), with my comments.

> o Do you program with auto-newline switched on (e.g. do you get NLs
>   inserted automatically after typing a `;' or `{')?
Yes: 13
No: 6
Wow!  Lots of people use auto-newline.  Like some respondents, I can't
stand it.  It shows that we need it, and it needs to be optional.

> o Did you configure this auto-newline setting yourself, and if not, are
>   you happy with it?
Yes: 11
No: 4     No/Yes: 3
          No/No: 0
Dumb double question there.  Sorry.

> o Are you aware of the key binding C-c C-a to toggle this mode on and
>   off?
Yes: 6
No: 13
I counted someone who said "No, but I use the menu item" as a yes.

> o How often do you use C-c C-a (or even C-c C-t) to toggle auto-newline
>   mode?
Frequently:
Seldomly: 4
Never: 14
Not a popular toggle.  It would seem that most people either definitely
want auto-newline or definitely don't want it.  Very few seem to want to
toggle it whilst editing; maybe because most people don't know it
exists.

> o In which language(s) (C, C++, ....) do you program in (X)Emacs?
C: 14
C++: 14
Objective-C: 2
Java: 7
Pike: 0
IDL: 1
AWK: 0
Most (but not all) C hackers are also C++ hackers.  It's good to see that
Objective-C and IDL Modes are actually used.  But where are the Pikers and
Awkers?  (We know that there's _at least_ one of each ;-).

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany)
Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter
(like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a").