Re: [LONG] Some thougths and a patch for the search menu-bar functions

[Robert J. Chassell]

More documentation is great, especially for people who start knowing
little.  However, there is a conceptual hole near the beginning of
what you say

    First I changed "Incremental Search" to "Interactive Search" (in
    the display only). It won't change anything to the long Emacs'
    user but maybe the meaning of "Interactive" will have more sense
    than "Incremental" to the new user.

This change is a mistake! "Incremental Search" is accurate and a
notion to learn!  Worse, you cannot distinguish among commands with
the word interactive; all are interactive, including "Non-incremental
Search".

Incremental vrs non-incremental is a major user interface issue.  Even
after all these years, incremental search still provides the most
comfortable human interface for navigation.  The user does *not* have
to think up a useful string length ahead of time.  He or she simply
starts typing the string or regexp, until point lands on the desired
text.  The user types only as much as necessary.  Because the cursor
moves as he or she types, the user does not have that terrible sense
of `waiting'.  

Put in more high-faluting language, with an incremental search, the
man-machine combination makes use of the most efficient, shortest
search string for the context, since the combined partners of this
association do only what is needed, and nothing more.

Perhaps you could add the phrase "Interactive' to "Incremental Search"
to create the explanatory phrase "Interactive Incremental Search".
That may be all right, although on second thoughts, I wonder why
bother, since all menu and keyboard commands are interactive.  Put
another way, what is different about `C-s' and `M-x grep'?  Both are
interactive commands, but only one of them is incremental.

"Non-incremental Search", `C-s <RET> STRING <RET>', is also
Interactive.  Interactivity is not a distinguishing feature.





v


In the source, I kept "incremental" and "isearch", it's only for
the display that it's called "Interactive". Maybe the manual would
have to change but a sentence like "For historical reasons,
'Incrementenal Search', was used before 'Interactive Search'. The old
term is used in the manual. But it's really the same thing.". Or
"Incremental" could stay. Anyway, it's not very long to change.  I
also renamed the old "Search" to "Non Interactive Search" because this
way a new user understand why there are two search functions in Emacs
and what are their real difference.

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell            address@hidden  address@hidden
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