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Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things.
From: |
Eli Zaretskii |
Subject: |
Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things. |
Date: |
Sun, 03 Jan 2016 17:29:41 +0200 |
> From: Michael Heerdegen <address@hidden>
> Cc: address@hidden, address@hidden, address@hidden
> Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2016 05:21:48 +0100
>
> > Are you serious? We've just had a long discussion about its missing
> > or incomplete or inadequate documentation,
>
> I know that, but that we can and want to fix, so it is no argument about
> whether pcase is really eval or not.
The discussion is IMO a clear indication that at least some people
have difficulties reading the code which involves 'pcase'. Which
means, IMO, that it shouldn't be used where simpler, more clear forms
will do.
> > including a long dispute about whether it would be better to quote _.
>
> Yes, and...???
And that was IMO a clear indication that even the tiniest syntax
issues related to 'pcase' raise problems.
> > My summary of that discussion is that the syntax is complicated and
> > quite weird.
>
> Where did we at all talk about the syntax?
If the semantics are not clear, the syntax is the first suspect.
> > Using such a beast where it is not required makes reading harder
> > because it requires the reader to understand its syntax, if nothing
> > else.
>
> And that's the real problem: (some) people refrain to try to understand
> the syntax and prefer to complain.
That's not my concern. I'm not one of those people.
> Sorry, I give up. pcase seems to scare off people somehow. If 50
> percent of the people are not able to cope with the thing, for whatever
> reason, and get stalled whenever they see it, I think we probably can't
> use it. A pity.
I never said anything even close to such an extreme. I don't think
there's any danger of refraining to use 'pcase' any time soon. It
does its job well, and where it's needed, it should definitely be
used.
> Is it even worth to update the docs of pcase?
Yes, definitely. With the current proliferation of its use in our
sources, we cannot leave it under-documented. I hope to see proposals
for documentation patches soon, thank you.
> Will anyone from those antagonizing it really try to learn how the
> thing is supposed to be used?
I'm sure more than one will, indeed.
Thanks.
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., (continued)
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Michael Heerdegen, 2016/01/02
- RE: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Drew Adams, 2016/01/02
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Michael Heerdegen, 2016/01/02
- RE: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Drew Adams, 2016/01/02
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Michael Heerdegen, 2016/01/03
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Eli Zaretskii, 2016/01/02
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Michael Heerdegen, 2016/01/02
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., David Kastrup, 2016/01/03
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Clément Pit--Claudel, 2016/01/03
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Michael Heerdegen, 2016/01/03
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things.,
Eli Zaretskii <=
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Michael Heerdegen, 2016/01/03
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., David Kastrup, 2016/01/03
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Michael Heerdegen, 2016/01/03
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., John Wiegley, 2016/01/04
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Dmitry Gutov, 2016/01/02
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen, 2016/01/02
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Dmitry Gutov, 2016/01/02
- RE: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Drew Adams, 2016/01/02
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., David Kastrup, 2016/01/03
- Re: The poor state of documentation of pcase like things., Michael Heerdegen, 2016/01/02