linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] menuconfig: Allow j/k to move down/up the menu

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Date:	Mon, 8 Jul 2013 16:08:41 -0700
From:	Sören Brinkmann <soren.brinkmann@...inx.com>
To:	Rob Landley <rob@...dley.net>
CC:	Ramkumar Ramachandra <artagnon@...il.com>,
	LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Michal Marek <mmarek@...e.cz>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] menuconfig: Allow j/k to move down/up the menu

On Sat, Jul 06, 2013 at 06:00:05PM -0500, Rob Landley wrote:
> On 07/05/2013 06:32:59 AM, Ramkumar Ramachandra wrote:
> >Like in Vim.
> >
> >Cc: Michal Marek <mmarek@...e.cz>
> >Signed-off-by: Ramkumar Ramachandra <artagnon@...il.com>
> >---
> > Unsure why nobody has done this yet.
> 
> While you're at it, why don't you add the ws up and down bindings
> from World of Warcraft?
> 
> The reason nobody has done this yet is that vi predates the
> invention of cursor keys. They keyboards Bill Joy was using in the
> 1970's did not have standardized cursor keys, in large part because
> you can't cursor around on a teletype printer. Once people started
> using "glass tty" devices (vt100 and such) cursor keys got
> standardized within a few years. They were reasonably ubiquitous by
> the time the IBM PC showed up (the vic 20 and commodore 64 and such
> all had them; anything that displayed to a television instead of
> through a daisy wheel).
> 
> They also didn't have ALT or control keys. The vi modal interface is
> a legacy of not having any standardized keys on the keyboard except
> letters, numbers, and (for 8 bit machines) shift. (There's a song
> "double bucky" to the tune of "Rubber Ducky" that commemorates a
> particular bespoke keyboard design from MIT in the 1970's.) Even the
> punctuation was potluck for a while there, although they could copy
> manual typewriters and the IBM selectric and such for some of that.
> 
> And now you know _why_ Linux is over 20 years old and has never
> needed this.
Well, one advantage of these key bindings is, that you don't have to
move your hands away from the base line. And as vim user I find myself
using vim key sequences in all tools. I cannot even count how many
processes I accidentally killed because I tried to scroll using 'k' in
htop where it does 'kill'.

In a nutshell: I'm all for vim key bindings everywhere!

But on the other hand, I can see that it might lead straight to chaos when
everybody pushes his favorite key bindings.

	Sören


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