[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       vim-dev
Subject:    Re: Sentences
From:       "Antoine J. Mechelynck" <antoine.mechelynck () belgacom ! net>
Date:       2005-02-16 13:00:24
Message-ID: 421343E8.1060303 () belgacom ! net
[Download RAW message or body]

Ben Peterson wrote:
>>>There could be a similar solution -- a) only refers to actual ascii
>>>parentheses, and a new object like aK refers to all parentheses.  I
>>>don't immediately see why anyone who had both types of parens in one
>>>buffer would want to make the distinction, though.
> 
> 
>>(Parentheses [and brackets{, or even accolades} ]can be nested within 
>>one another.) Place your cursor on the word "accolades" above. a), a] 
>>and a} would select different texts.
> 
> 
> Yes, but ()[]{} are nested in programming whereas the 8 or so types of
> CJK paired punctuation are not _usually_ nested meaningfully -- 99% of
> the time you would have the cursor on some bracketed expression and
> you'd want that expression, defined by the inmost matching brackets.
> You wouldn't _usually_ want to stop and see which type of bracket they
> were and figure out how to type it -- by the time you've typed something
> like the Left White Tortoise Shell Bracket (0x3018, needs about 6
> keypresses on my computer) it's easier to just select the text with the
> mouse.
> 
> Of course, sometimes you would want to skip over one kind of bracket and
> stop at another.  Maybe there could be both general 'any quotes' and
> 'any brackets' objects, and also objects for the more common particular
> types of quotes and brackets.
> 
> 
>>What about a user-defined class, let's say maybe something like aq<>
> 
> for 
> 
>>French quotes and aq"" for German quotes?

Hm, apparently your mail client misunderstood my UTF-8 email. What I 
call French quotes is approximately << >> and what I call German quotes 
is approximately ,, ``.
> 
> 
> I wouldn't want to have to use different commands in French documents as
> opposed to German ones -- that's exactly the sort of text-related logic
> vim should be doing for me.  On the other hand, when I am editing a very
> complex file that embeds one kind of quote inside another, I guess I
> would want to specify the exact quote type explicitly.  

English texts often alternate single and double quotes for levels of 
quoting. As alluded to in my earlier post, I'm not sure it would be 
within Vim's reach to always pair quotes correctly without user 
guidance, and for instance, when sitting on a >> or ,, quote, to jump 
backward in French text but forward in German text (and remember: it's 
quite possible to edit a German text on a French locale and vice-versa, 
whatever POSIX might say).
> 
> Either way, vim would need to know that all the relevant characters are
> in fact quotes, which would be a big step forward.

What about the apostrophe, which can be a diacritical sign or a 
quotation mark, and sometimes both at different points in a single sentence?


Best regards,
Tony.

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]