M-x terminal-emulator vs M-x term (was: Re: Optimal emacs shell for coding)

[Jonathan Groll]

On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 06:02:48PM +1000, Tim X wrote:
<snip>
> It depends on what you want to do. If I'm writing shell scripts, I will
> open an emacs buffer to put the script in and then run the script in
> whichever other shell is most appropriate (depending on things such as
> whether I plan to use redirection (don't use eshell), run with little
> interaction (probably just use run-shell) or if I require ansi, ncurses or
> other screen/terminal support, M-x term. 
> 

One thing that is difficult to understand is the difference between
M-x term     and
M-x terminal-emulator

The former behaves as is described in the Emacs manual for the node
"Term mode", namely the C-c escape sequence is respected, there is
both a char and a line mode, and a feature that I like, in char mode,
is that the arrow keys work for browsing the shell history (under
bash).

However, launching a terminal emulator with M-x terminal-emulator
results in completely different behaviour. The escape sequence is
C-^. There does not seem to be a line mode? In adddition, in
terminal-emulator the arrow keys are not bound - "Function key up>'
ignored" and other messages appear if these keys are pressed.

Is there a relationship between term and terminal-emulator (as the
Emacs manual seems to imply?), and are there any known programs that
work better in terminal-emulator than in term? 

Cheers,
Jonathan.