Re: T,r,i,c,k, ,o,r, ,t,r,e,a,t,!

[nsivin@xxxxxxxx (Nathan Sivin)]

The ^K function is just a keystroke recorder. I use it fairly often
for temporary keystroke sequences, and sometimes to capture the basis
for an XPL program (editing and adding loops, branches, etc. later).
Normally it dumps a lot of extraneous keystrokes in the file. For
instance, pressing the ESC key gives you 3 strokes, where you
presumably want only one. You need to erase them before keeping the
program, but there is a better way.

I picked it up from some sage in the distant past who may wish to
acknowledge it. The idea is that you make a second keyboard file, say
MACRO.KBD, with all the NI's, Mn and Qn strokes, etc., stripped out
and any modifications you want entered. You then set up your macro
recording key so it loads MACRO.KBD, calls the keystroke recording
routine, and afterward reloads the normal keyboard.

Since the recorded macro is held in RAM and thus is fugitive, I have
another key assignment that automatically saves it (if I want to keep
it) in a file called FLY.PGM (for "on the fly"), and a third that runs
FLY.PGM with a single stroke (after I have edited it, of course).

--
Nathan Sivin
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA 19104-3325
(nsivin@xxxxxxxx)