Chris's Wiki :: blog/programming/CutNPasteModels Commentshttps://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/programming/CutNPasteModels?atomcommentsDWiki2011-05-06T01:57:05ZRecent comments in Chris's Wiki :: blog/programming/CutNPasteModels.By Chris Siebenmann on /blog/programming/CutNPasteModelstag:CSpace:blog/programming/CutNPasteModels:57577f4da1e4fc1f244ced5cfbb2268070d60be1Chris Siebenmann<div class="wikitext"><p>I call it the xterm model because I think of it as originating with
xterm (I'm not certain if it did, but I suspect so) and I most
frequently use it with xterm (and other terminal programs that are
emulating it). Likely this is because I don't have much cause to use
cut & paste outside of xterm in my environment.</p>
<p>(One of my three most common editors uses the 'standard' cut & paste
model with additional awkwardness, one runs in xterm, and the third
is GNU Emacs and I try not to think too much about how GNU Emacs
interacts with X cut & paste in general.)</p>
</div>2011-05-06T01:57:05ZFrom 97.107.130.220 on /blog/programming/CutNPasteModelstag:CSpace:blog/programming/CutNPasteModels:454bb019fb4c0c15c44b7360d5a16ad4a335436eFrom 97.107.130.220<div class="wikitext"><p>What continues to confound me is why you keep bringing up xterm. The middle-click selection paste gesture works in all of X11.</p>
<p>The only way in which I can image xterm deserving specific mention is if it emulated pasting by sending the selection to the running console program as keyboard input at a time when other graphical terminal emulators did not. But that doesn’t make the selection paste gesture specific to it.</p>
<p>—<a href="http://plasmasturm.org/">Aristotle Pagaltzis</a></p>
</div>2011-05-05T23:38:16ZBy Chris Siebenmann on /blog/programming/CutNPasteModelstag:CSpace:blog/programming/CutNPasteModels:1df0f73887881d7eb94682322b4e083bad68799cChris Siebenmann<div class="wikitext"><p>I don't feel that having two models is necessarily bad. This entry was
about why <code>xterm</code>'s approach is both 'non-standard' and cannot be the
only model of cut & paste your system uses unless you are willing to
have a relatively limited cut & paste model. The xterm model works
very efficiently in its problem domain, which is a good thing for
people who use xterm (or similar things) a lot.</p>
<p>(One of the reasons that I use xterm instead of some of the other
options I have is precisely because xterm has this more convenient
copy & paste system. The 'standard' copy & paste approach is annoyingly
slower if you use it a lot.)</p>
<p>Having two models of cut & paste in your system does have consequences,
such as needing two different internal systems to support them, but that's
just a small matter of programming and can be handwaved away.</p>
<p>(I should clarify the 'sign your comment' note. There's no specific
support for signatures here, so that just means 'put your name on the
comment in some appropriate way'.)</p>
</div>2011-05-05T16:20:32ZFrom 92.24.4.157 on /blog/programming/CutNPasteModelstag:CSpace:blog/programming/CutNPasteModels:4ea09ca00958b17da1f8018b1b1389513f7da8b5From 92.24.4.157<div class="wikitext"><p>I think having copy-cut-copy-paste instead of copy-target-paste is a worthwhile exchange for the simplicity of copying by highlighting instead of highlighting and picking copy from (usually the middle of) a menu. Copying is the most common act, so surely it's right to make it the simplest act?</p>
<p>(It's all well and good putting "Please remember to sign your comment" but how? Nothing about signatures on the <a href="https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/help/DWikiText">DWikiText</a> page.)</p>
</div>2011-05-05T10:09:22ZFrom 171.69.137.181 on /blog/programming/CutNPasteModelstag:CSpace:blog/programming/CutNPasteModels:4dcb34c9f53dfcacb8e57b22612aee8bd5e25c93From 171.69.137.181<div class="wikitext"><p>I don't see the dual approach as a "solution" to a "problem"</p>
<p>Most of the time I highlight and middle-click: BAM!</p>
<p>When I need to cut or overwrite then I do it with the copy-n-paste method.</p>
<p>They work fine in parallel. No problems.</p>
<p>It rocks incredibly well, and when I have to use, say, Windows, I'm always pleased to find apps like PuTTY which make an effort to support the superior method of copy-on-select/paste-on-middle-click.</p>
<p>There's nothing "wrong" with making life easier for users.</p>
<p>Or are you just bad-mouthing one ancient piece of software that nobody is ever forced to use any more? I mean, xterm has so many, uh, quirks that it seems silly for anyone to only complain about one! :)</p>
<p>-danny</p>
</div>2011-05-04T23:05:23Z