Here is why Emacs uses Meta key

catonmat.net

11 points·janvdberg··3 comments

The worst key, in modern keyboards, when using Emacs is CTRL key.

In the Lisp Keyboard we can see that CTRL key can be press with the thumb.

The bottom corner position in modern keyboards is painful for the pinky finger.

For years I switch CTRL key and TAB key, whereas this is better, you still overuse pinky finger.

Nowadays I use palm to press CTRL (I found this trick here: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/emacs_pinky.html). I stick a pad on CTRL buttons to improve the trick.

This is not intended to start any kind of flamewar or editor battle, but to be honest, my switch to Vim (and obviously I could've picked any editor, Vim was just the next on my list) was ultimately motivated by RSI concerns. The constant chording with Emacs led to shooting pains in my left hand that fairly rapidly resolved after I switched editors.

Fundamentally, IMO, Emacs just has poor ergonomics. Single chorded key sequences are one thing... other editors and IDEs, including Vim, frequently rely on single chorded commands or a single chorded command followed by a sequence of single characters.

But having to enter multiple chorded keys in a sequence to complete a command greatly exacerbates RSI issues when using Emacs heavily, as the meta key has to be held for a much longer period of time.

Fortunately, there are options like evil and viper that give you the best of both worlds (though I've never made that transition).

And new keyboards have Hyper key back in the guide of Windows key. Or Option in Mac world. Only Super is missing.

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