Suggest what you want in an editor...

[Dan Smith, happy it's summer...]

	Hello. I've been following this whole "editor wars" segment for
a while now, and have learned some new things from it. I couldn't write
a whole new editor from scratch on the level of vi or emacs with what
I know now, but I sure as hell have some ideas on what I want from
one, and am well past the novice/beginner stage...

	Which brings me to my point.. I'd like to see an outpouring of
ideas on what people would like to see in an editor. Maybe someone that
reads this has the time to take on something like this (I think it
may take a few "someones" at once...but that isn't important at the
moment). I personally like vi, but I want to see it do windows, and
I want to have the *option* of going into a full emacs emulation
if I want to. (a few of you just slapped your foreheads and exclaimed
"he's out of his mind! what a kludge!"...read on..)

	What I suggest is something done from scratch, that takes the
best of what is available now, and wraps it into a very useable package
that can be configured not only in the sense that you can bind
any key to any function/macro...but where you can drop into and
out of a "vi" or "brief" or "emacs" mode...possibly accomplished
by having a set of editing primitves to work with in the form
of a macro language.

	I hope this starts things off on a positive note...I'd rather
not see it degenerate into a "nahh, that idea sucks" sort of syndrome,
but more of an opportunity for brainstorming (and obviously, there
are quite a few "brains" that read/post to this group!)


				dan smith

				...ucbvax!well!unicom!daniel