Re: master f51f963: Fix some side-effecting uses of make-text-button

[Basil L. Contovounesios]

Pip Cet <pipcet@gmail.com> writes:

> "Basil L. Contovounesios" <contovob@tcd.ie> writes:
>
>> Pip Cet <pipcet@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>> [...]
>>
>>> It would not be a quick bug fix for code that uses (propertize "string"
>>> 'a 'b).
>>
>> propertize returns a copy of its argument, so it's not problematic in
>> this context.
>
> Thanks for pointing that out. I hope it was still clear what I meant.

It rarely isn't. :)

>> My only concern with destructively modifying string literals as in the
>> (make-text-button "here" ...) example is that it can "pollute" that
>> string literal for all of its users, which is both "rude" and
>> unnecessary in this case.  I simply find it cleaner, less intrusive, and
>> less surprising to modify only one's own copy of a string in such a
>> trivial case.  I'm not personally concerned with crashes, theoretical
>> purity or mutability, or anything like that; for that I defer to you,
>> Paul, and other experts.
>
> I'd like to apologise. I made several mistakes in that email (including
> using the word "off-handedly" when a less offensive term would have
> done). Most importantly, I think, I was commenting on a change that, as
> you correctly point out, made the code cleaner and less surprising, as
> though it were a whole-hearted endorsement of breaking any existing code
> that is more surprising or less clean. I see now that you said no such
> thing.

No need to apologise.  I figured what you meant, don't take offence,
sympathise with your position, and am interested to follow this
discussion.  I just wanted to establish that this particular commit
should™ be pretty uncontroversial, which I hope I succeeded in doing. ;)

-- 
Basil