bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command'

[Dmitry Gutov]

On 22.02.2021 08:23, Richard Stallman wrote:
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>
>    > To me, it certainly sounds more complicated to learn, and harder to use,
>    > than just having two separate commands.  If your concern is complexity,
>    > the above is the more complex UI.
>
> I am astounded by the way you see it.
> I did not expect to encounter disagreement on this point.
>
> It seems that you are equally astounded.
>
> I will explain why I see it the way I do.
>
>    > - `C-h f' for any function
>    > - `C-h x' for commands
>
> This is yet one more specific command one needs to remember.  For a
> beginner, or even a not-quite-beginner, learning hundreds of other
> commands is the hard part.  And it is easy to forget them.

I sympathize with reluctance to add new commands, especially when one is 
very similar to an existing one.

> By contrast, what TAB TAB TAB... does inside completion for commands
> is a general feature, not similar to any other.
>
> Users will forget commands that they learned, but I think they will
> hardly forget this.

...but making a general feature (and completion-at-point is a general 
interface which we use in many context) more complex can be much worse.

TAB and 'TAB TAB' already do different things. Now, what happens if a 
third 'TAB' will switch the completion tale? The user will have to count 
how many times they pressed TAB now. Did I press it one or twice? If 
once, next press will pop up the Completions buffer, if two: switch to 
another completion table. What if I press TAB 4 times, what will happen? 
Or ok, I pressed TAB a few times, but forgot to count. Which completion 
table is it using now?