> After pressing Alt-X, show a list of recently used commands.
I would recommend people install/enable some of the nicer completion packages. Helm does this, for example. Personally, I wouldn't recommend helm, but I suspect all the "major" completion modes do this. Even ido/smex, I believe, does this, and it comes with Emacs (you still need to enable it, though).
Also, I suspect if you use Doom or Spacemacs this will be the default.
> When opening/saving a file and typing the path, automatically show the directory contents and hi-light entries that match the path. Show recently opened files and directories in bold. Scroll the listing with PGUP/PGDN/mouse-wheel. I often use emacs to open log files which contain long unique prefixes which are error-prone to type. Allow using the mouse & arrows keys to select the file.
I think all of this is configurable, but I'm also sure 95% of users don't want to spend too much time configuring. The default interface sucks - the problem is that there's no "improvement" that the majority likes, so the default remains a bit barebone. For example, I don't like some of your suggestions (although they are "objectively" OK). Likewise you wouldn't want it the way I have it.
> Auto-save and auto-format.
You could put a setting in your config file to enable this. Most people don't want it, though. Even in other editors.
> Allow using ENTER to add newlines to a search-replace command.
I believe this is configurable - I did something similar for a different input. But ... how do you propose someone then achieve the current effect of ENTER?
> Allow writing Emacs commands in popular languages like Python 3 or JavaScript. Include a tutorial for each supported language. The lisp bigots will be angry about this.
I would like this, but it's very challenging. I even switched to Leo Editor which was inspired by Emacs and is the closest thing you'll get to Emacs: An extremely configurable editor that you can script in Python - you can dynamically change the UI, etc. It's the equivalent of Emacs but for Python users. You may want to look into it. Unfortunately, despite being "mature", its documentation isn't the best, and it's hard to compete with all the Emacs packages out there. I gave up and decided to learn elisp - much easier than porting every Emacs feature I liked to Leo.
But Leo really has its strong points. The literate programming capabilities it is based on still haven't been replicated in Emacs - I've not found anything as good in that regard as Leo. I still occasionally fire up Leo when I find Emacs lacking.
> Create a public issue tracker for emacs
It occurred to me that anyone could create a Github project just for Emacs issues. It would be useful even if Emacs developers don't look at it. Currently people do it with StackExchange.
I would recommend people install/enable some of the nicer completion packages. Helm does this, for example. Personally, I wouldn't recommend helm, but I suspect all the "major" completion modes do this. Even ido/smex, I believe, does this, and it comes with Emacs (you still need to enable it, though).
Also, I suspect if you use Doom or Spacemacs this will be the default.
> When opening/saving a file and typing the path, automatically show the directory contents and hi-light entries that match the path. Show recently opened files and directories in bold. Scroll the listing with PGUP/PGDN/mouse-wheel. I often use emacs to open log files which contain long unique prefixes which are error-prone to type. Allow using the mouse & arrows keys to select the file.
I think all of this is configurable, but I'm also sure 95% of users don't want to spend too much time configuring. The default interface sucks - the problem is that there's no "improvement" that the majority likes, so the default remains a bit barebone. For example, I don't like some of your suggestions (although they are "objectively" OK). Likewise you wouldn't want it the way I have it.
> Auto-save and auto-format.
You could put a setting in your config file to enable this. Most people don't want it, though. Even in other editors.
> Allow using ENTER to add newlines to a search-replace command.
I believe this is configurable - I did something similar for a different input. But ... how do you propose someone then achieve the current effect of ENTER?
> Allow writing Emacs commands in popular languages like Python 3 or JavaScript. Include a tutorial for each supported language. The lisp bigots will be angry about this.
I would like this, but it's very challenging. I even switched to Leo Editor which was inspired by Emacs and is the closest thing you'll get to Emacs: An extremely configurable editor that you can script in Python - you can dynamically change the UI, etc. It's the equivalent of Emacs but for Python users. You may want to look into it. Unfortunately, despite being "mature", its documentation isn't the best, and it's hard to compete with all the Emacs packages out there. I gave up and decided to learn elisp - much easier than porting every Emacs feature I liked to Leo.
But Leo really has its strong points. The literate programming capabilities it is based on still haven't been replicated in Emacs - I've not found anything as good in that regard as Leo. I still occasionally fire up Leo when I find Emacs lacking.
> Create a public issue tracker for emacs
It occurred to me that anyone could create a Github project just for Emacs issues. It would be useful even if Emacs developers don't look at it. Currently people do it with StackExchange.