Delete (kill) entire line at cursor - how?

[cmr . Pent]

I've been a Windows user for years, but recently I began to feel that
my usual work (mostly R scripts and scientific articles) could be done
much more efficiently in text-oriented environment, which Linux is. So
I've installed Linux and tried some editors like Kate, but they didn't
suit my needs 100% (for example, I don't know how to switch between
text file and console using keyboard, keeping console open; plus Kate
loads like ages). Now I'm studying Emacs.

Well, Emacs has this kewl psychotherapist and Conway's life built in,
but from the tutorial I got impression it lacks a very simple but
extremely useful feature. It says that to delete line at cursor I must
hit C-a C-k C-k, while for examle mcedit (and many Windows progs I'm
used to) have a C-y shortcut for such operation. Furthermore, when I
hit C-y in mcedit, the cursor stays at the same position, but the
technique the official Emacs tutorial suggests means that your cursor
will go to the start of the line - not very handy for me.

I believe the Emacs is powerful enough to emulate such a feature, so
please, Emacs gurus, point me out how to create a _simple_ shortcut
(like C-y) which would kill line at cursor not moving the cursor
itself.

Pent