GNU bug report logs - #22873
25.1.50; Feature Request -- Multiple Cursors (built-in support)

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Message #8 received at 22873 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: John Wiegley <jwiegley <at> gmail.com>
To: Keith David Bershatsky <esq <at> lawlist.com>
Cc: 22873 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, emacs-devel <at> gnu.org
Subject: Can we support multiple Cursors?
Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2016 22:30:38 -0800

>>>>> Keith David Bershatsky <esq <at> lawlist.com> writes:

> As a feature request, it would be appreciated if the Emacs development team
> could please consider adding built-in support for multiple cursors similar
> to the Lisp library that Magnar Sveen has written:
> https://github.com/magnars

I like this request, but my spidey sense tells me that implementing this at
the C level will introduce a huge number of ramifications that may not be
immediately apparent. For example, (point) conceptually goes from being one
position, to many. The implications of that are huge, which will mean
introducing special cases to avoid them, which then has its own implications,
etc.

I'd like to see discussion on this idea in emacs-devel, so I'm copying there.
This is something that deserves a larger audience than just those following
bug #22873. Is multiple-cursor editing a realistic possibility? And is it
worth the complexity?

-- 
John Wiegley                  GPG fingerprint = 4710 CF98 AF9B 327B B80F
http://newartisans.com                          60E1 46C4 BD1A 7AC1 4BA2

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