Re: Emacs Book Vs Emacs Manuals

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

Rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> writes:

> On Sunday, May 10, 2015 at 8:18:20 AM UTC+5:30, Bob Proulx wrote:
>> Marcin Borkowski wrote:
>> > Bob Proulx wrote:
>> > > A student says that they really want to learn Calculus.  They know
>> > > that Calculus is very powerful and can be used to solve many problems.
>> > > I suggest that they learn Arithmetic first.  They respond,
>> > > "Arithmetic!  Have you learned Arithmetic?  Arithmetic is old.  Should
>> > > I learn Arithmetic?  For example, will Arithmetic talk about
>> > > Calculus?"
>> > 
>> > Nice try;-).  But this analogy is flawed: software, unlike mathematical
>> > theories, is subject to change.
>> 
>> Has emacs changed that much?  I don't think it has.  It is still very
>> much the same.
>
> Sad but true
>
> After 20 years of using, teaching with, and making my students use emacs,
> for the first time this year I taught python using Idle rather than emacs.
> Some nuisances... C-a now means Select-all whereas my nerve-pathways know it 
> as
> Beginning-of-line etc etc
> Also some sadness... however one needs to get real and selling emacs to 
> students
> has led to lot of funny looks and some significant hostility.
>
> The tutorial with C-f C-b... for cursor movements was I guess the last straw
>
> What I describe may sound like exaggeration but that's only because I am 
> trying to
> reconstruct what happens between noob and emacs when I am not around.
>
> Student starts reading tutorial and sees the C-f C-b stuff:
>
> - Some follow it wonder about the weirdness but then get on with it
> - Some just use cursor keys like the rest of the planet ignore the C-f C-b 
> stuff and get on with it
> - But a few notice that cursor keys work as they should but is not documented
> and are a bit confused/bewildered
> - And of those few, a few get real HOSTILE
>
> Now if the cursor-keys didn't work it would not be so bad
> And ideal would be for them to work AND be documented
> But works and NOT documented/demoed in tutorial... and there are serious 
> allegations of ATTITUDE!

I can't believe it.  Do you teach retards?

-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                 http://www.informatimago.com/
“The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a
dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to
keep the man from touching the equipment.” -- Carl Bass CEO Autodesk