> Kakoune’s grammar is object followed by verb, combined with instantaneous feedback, that means you always see the current object (In Kakoune we call that the selection) before you apply your change, which allows you to correct errors on the go.
Let say I want to delete a word from somewhere in the middle of a line. I would then navigate to the line in question, then press something like "^wwwdw" (i.e. "move to the beginning of the line, move 3 words forwards, delete word"). The motion of the deletion is the same as the motion for navigation. How would that work if the motion comes first? Would I go "wwwwd"? Would that delete one word, or four? Would you use a different key for the motion and the text object?
I don't think this is a bad idea, swapping the order. The thing about showing you what's about to happen is a great point (though Visual mode in vim works pretty well for this purpose). I'm just wondering if it's better in practice. I'm certainly willing to give it a shot.
'w' will move the current selection to the next word so only one word. To extend the selection you need to press 'W' so "wWWWd" will delete four words. For most motions (if not all), the uppercase variant will extend the current selection.
This also makes searching slightly different:
/ search forwards
? extend selection forward
<a-/> search backwards
<a-?> extend selection backwardsI think you've hit the nail on the head here. c3w in vim is 3Wc in kakoune, 3wc will change the third word, straight off the bat there's a lot more shift key hitting. The most annoying thing though is getting the motion wrong, if 3W turns out to not be the motion I want, hitting escape does not return the cursor to where it was before the motion.