Subject: bug#13334: 24.3.50; enhancement request: `C-0 M-n' reverses order of defaults

From: Drew Adams <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2016 07:36:35 -0700 (PDT)

> > The enhancement would be to let a zero prefix arg (e.g. `C-0') reverse
> > the list of available default values and then go to the first one
> > (previously the last one).  So you could cycle among the defaults in the
> > opposite order.
> 
> I think that sounds very awkward.  I don't expect users to remember what
> they had in the oldest part of the history.

Perhaps you did not understand the request.
This is NOT about remembering anything.
This is NOT even about the input history.  At all.

This is about the set (list) of _default values_ a user can
choose from using `M-n'.

You don't need to remember anything or know what's in that list.
In fact that's the point: you generally do not know what is in
the list (all of it).  Giving you the ability to reverse the
order at any time lets you get to any of its elements easier,
and even to more easily discover what is in the list.

Juri proposed (in this thread) an alternative approach, which
also tries to solve the same problem: give users easier access
to elements in the (possibly long) list of defaults.  The
problem is real (if minor).  This ticket should be left open
so that the best solution can be found and implemented.