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Re: `set-variable' should use :set
From: |
Stephen J. Turnbull |
Subject: |
Re: `set-variable' should use :set |
Date: |
Sat, 23 Oct 2010 13:48:51 +0900 |
Juanma Barranquero writes:
> > Most important is clarity, and I find "However, this feature is
> > largely obsoleted by `defcustom'" quite clear as far as it goes
> > (it doesn't say why or how).
>
> I find it quite clear too.
Clear, yes. I personally think it's ugly and awkward, the kind of
usage a tasteless engineer[1] would invent. I would hope that Emacs
aspires to a higher, more literary standard. That's why I suggested
Drew contribute a patch, not as an indirect way of asking him to shut
up. (The smiley was because I expected the response he produced: a
few hundred words on emacs-devel and no patch.)
I don't think that clarity is sufficiently important that we should
say "if it's clear, ship it." Precision in natural language is as
important as precision in formal languages. I don't have an issue
with efficient use of one's time; if you happen to be a tasteless
engineer, your contribution will be in elegant code, not elegant
docs. Clarity is the sine qua non, and that's what you should aim for
if getting even that is a struggle.
But a superior application will have elegant docs, which the user will
appreciate far more than elegant code. (Of course neither holds a
candle to elegant UI.)
Footnotes:
[1] The adjective is not redundant.
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, (continued)
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, Miles Bader, 2010/10/21
- RE: `set-variable' should use :set, Drew Adams, 2010/10/21
- RE: `set-variable' should use :set, Stephen J. Turnbull, 2010/10/21
- RE: `set-variable' should use :set, Drew Adams, 2010/10/22
- RE: `set-variable' should use :set, Stephen J. Turnbull, 2010/10/22
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, David Kastrup, 2010/10/22
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, Juanma Barranquero, 2010/10/22
- RE: `set-variable' should use :set, Drew Adams, 2010/10/22
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, David Kastrup, 2010/10/22
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, Juanma Barranquero, 2010/10/22
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set,
Stephen J. Turnbull <=
- RE: `set-variable' should use :set, Drew Adams, 2010/10/23
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, Juanma Barranquero, 2010/10/23
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, Glenn Morris, 2010/10/23
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, Jambunathan K, 2010/10/23
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, Chong Yidong, 2010/10/24
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, Stefan Monnier, 2010/10/22
- RE: `set-variable' should use :set, Drew Adams, 2010/10/22
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, Eli Zaretskii, 2010/10/22
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, Eli Zaretskii, 2010/10/22
- Re: `set-variable' should use :set, Stephen J. Turnbull, 2010/10/22