Mercurial > emacs

--- a/man/entering.texi	Wed May 03 23:21:31 2006 +0000
+++ b/man/entering.texi	Wed May 03 23:22:14 2006 +0000
@@ -8,58 +8,54 @@
 @cindex starting Emacs

   The usual way to invoke Emacs is with the shell command
-@command{emacs}.  Emacs clears the screen and then displays an initial
-help message and copyright notice.  Some operating systems discard all
-type-ahead when Emacs starts up; they give Emacs no way to prevent
-this.  If you ever use those systems, learn the habit of waiting for
-Emacs to clear the screen before typing your first editing command.
+@command{emacs}.  Emacs clears the screen, then displays an initial
+help message and copyright notice.  Some operating systems discard
+your type-ahead when Emacs starts up; they give Emacs no way to
+prevent this.  On those systems, wait for Emacs to clear the screen
+before you start typing.

-  If you run Emacs from a shell window under the X Window System, run it
-in the background with @command{emacs&}.  This way, Emacs does not tie up
-the shell window, so you can use that to run other shell commands while
-Emacs operates its own X windows.  You can begin typing Emacs commands
-as soon as you direct your keyboard input to the Emacs frame.
+  From a shell window under the X Window System, run Emacs in the
+background with @command{emacs&}.  This way, Emacs won't tie up the
+shell window, so you can use it to run other shell commands while
+Emacs is running.  You can type Emacs commands as soon as you direct
+your keyboard input to an Emacs frame.

 @vindex initial-major-mode
   When Emacs starts up, it creates a buffer named @samp{*scratch*}.
 That's the buffer you start out in.  The @samp{*scratch*} buffer uses
 Lisp Interaction mode; you can use it to type Lisp expressions and
-evaluate them, or you can ignore that capability and just write notes
-in it.  (You can specify a different major mode for this buffer by
+evaluate them.  You can also ignore that capability and just write notes
+there.  You can specify a different major mode for this buffer by
 setting the variable @code{initial-major-mode} in your init file.
-@xref{Init File}.)
+@xref{Init File}.

   It is possible to specify files to be visited, Lisp files to be
-loaded, and functions to be called, by giving Emacs arguments in the
-shell command line.  @xref{Emacs Invocation}.  But we don't recommend
-doing this.  The feature exists mainly for compatibility with other
-editors.
+loaded, and functions to be called through Emacs command-line
+arguments.  @xref{Emacs Invocation}.  The feature exists mainly for
+compatibility with other editors, and for scripts.

-  Many other editors are designed to be started afresh each time you
-want to edit.  You edit one file and then exit the editor.  The next
-time you want to edit either another file or the same one, you must run
-the editor again.  With these editors, it makes sense to use a
-command-line argument to say which file to edit.
+  Many editors are designed to edit one file.  When done with that
+file, you exit the editor.  The next time you want to edit a file, you
+must start the editor again.  Working this way, it is convenient to
+use a command-line argument to say which file to edit.

-  But starting a new Emacs each time you want to edit a different file
-does not make sense.  This would fail to take advantage of Emacs's
-ability to visit more than one file in a single editing session, and
-it would lose the other accumulated context, such as the kill ring,
-registers, undo history, and mark ring, that are useful for operating
-on multiple files or even one.
+  It's not smart to start Emacs afresh for every file you edit.  Emacs
+can visit more than one file in a single editing session, and upon
+exit Emacs loses valuable accumulated context, such as the kill ring,
+registers, undo history, and mark ring.  These features are useful for
+operating on multiple files, or even one.  If you kill Emacs after
+each file, you don't take advantage of them.

   The recommended way to use GNU Emacs is to start it only once, just
 after you log in, and do all your editing in the same Emacs session.
-Each time you want to edit a different file, you visit it with the
-existing Emacs, which eventually comes to have many files in it ready
-for editing.  Usually you do not kill the Emacs until you are about to
-log out.  @xref{Files}, for more information on visiting more than one
-file.
+Each time you edit a file, you visit it with the existing Emacs, which
+eventually has many files in it ready for editing.  Usually you do not
+kill Emacs until you are about to log out.  @xref{Files}, for more
+information on visiting more than one file.

-  If you want to edit a file from another program and already have
-Emacs running, you can use the @command{emacsclient} program to open a
-file in the already running Emacs.  @xref{Emacs Server}, for more
-information on editing files with Emacs from other programs.
+  To edit a file from another program while Emacs is running, you can
+use the @command{emacsclient} helper program to open a file in the
+already running Emacs.  @xref{Emacs Server}.

 @ifnottex
 @raisesections
@@ -73,9 +69,9 @@
 @cindex leaving Emacs
 @cindex quitting Emacs

-  There are two commands for exiting Emacs because there are three
-kinds of exiting: @dfn{suspending} Emacs, @dfn{Iconifying} Emacs, and
-@dfn{killing} Emacs.
+  There are two commands for exiting Emacs, and three kinds of exiting:
+@dfn{suspending} Emacs, @dfn{Iconifying} Emacs, and @dfn{killing}
+Emacs.

   @dfn{Suspending} means stopping Emacs temporarily and returning
 control to its parent process (usually a shell), allowing you to resume
@@ -110,11 +106,11 @@
 Emacs.  You can resume Emacs with the shell command @command{%emacs}
 in most common shells.  On systems that don't support suspending
 programs, @kbd{C-z} starts an inferior shell that communicates
-directly with the terminal, and Emacs waits until you exit the subshell.
-(The way to do that is probably with @kbd{C-d} or @command{exit}, but
-it depends on which shell you use.)  The only way on these systems to
-get back to the shell from which Emacs was run (to log out, for
-example) is to kill Emacs.
+directly with the terminal, and Emacs waits until you exit the
+subshell.  (The way to do that is probably with @kbd{C-d} or
+@command{exit}, but it depends on which shell you use.)  On these
+systems, you can only get back to the shell from which Emacs was run
+(to log out, for example) when you kill Emacs.

   Suspending can fail if you run Emacs under a shell that doesn't
 support suspending programs, even if the system itself does support
@@ -133,13 +129,13 @@
 @kindex C-x C-c
 @findex save-buffers-kill-emacs
   To exit and kill Emacs, type @kbd{C-x C-c}
-(@code{save-buffers-kill-emacs}).  A two-character key is used for
-this to make it harder to type by accident.  This command first offers
-to save any modified file-visiting buffers.  If you do not save them
-all, it asks for reconfirmation with @kbd{yes} before killing Emacs,
-since any changes not saved will be lost forever.  Also, if any
-subprocesses are still running, @kbd{C-x C-c} asks for confirmation
-about them, since killing Emacs will also kill the subprocesses.
+(@code{save-buffers-kill-emacs}).  A two-character key is used to make
+it harder to type by accident.  This command first offers to save any
+modified file-visiting buffers.  If you do not save them all, it asks
+for confirmation with @kbd{yes} before killing Emacs, since any
+changes not saved now will be lost forever.  Also, if any subprocesses are
+still running, @kbd{C-x C-c} asks for confirmation about them, since
+killing Emacs will also kill the subprocesses.

 @vindex confirm-kill-emacs
   If the value of the variable @code{confirm-kill-emacs} is
@@ -150,11 +146,10 @@
 function @code{yes-or-no-p}.  The default value of
 @code{confirm-kill-emacs} is @code{nil}.

-  There is no way to resume an Emacs session once you have killed it.
-You can, however, arrange for Emacs to record certain session
-information when you kill it, such as which files are visited, so that
-the next time you start Emacs it will try to visit the same files and
-so on.  @xref{Saving Emacs Sessions}.
+  You can't resume an Emacs session after killing it.  Emacs can,
+however, record certain session information when you kill it, such as
+which files you visited, so the next time you start Emacs it will try
+to visit the same files.  @xref{Saving Emacs Sessions}.

   The operating system usually listens for certain special characters
 whose meaning is to kill or suspend the program you are running.