bug#36454: 26.2.90; feature request - Insert char by hex tab completion or C-x 8 RET ffe <TAB>

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2019 20:44:46 +0000 (UTC)
> From: Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> Cc: mrsebastianurban@gmail.com, larsi@gnus.org, van@scratch.space,
>         36454@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > I hope we agree that wading through 170 completion candidates, let
> > alone 500, is not very convenient, yes?
> 
> No, we don't agree that 500 completion candidates
> is a problem.

I'm surprised to hear that, but maybe I shouldn't.

> Completion is not just an aid for entering input.
> It's a way to discover, browse, search, etc. a
> set of information.

Completion is a very poor means for discovery and browsing.  If we
want tools for discovering characters, we should have more powerful
commands: list characters by their Unicode block, by their script, by
their attributes, etc.  Completion is not for all of that; it can be
used for that, but with very low efficiency and user-friendliness.  So
we should not judge the need for completion by considering any use
cases other than just completion, i.e. finding a specific character or
a small group of related characters.