Re: master baf1a7a4a0: Turn gv-synthetic-place into a function

[Howard Melman]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Howard Melman <hmelman@gmail.com>
>> Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2022 10:11:14 -0400
>> 
>> And I think rather than
>> 
>>  -- Macro: setf [place form]...
>>      This macro evaluates FORM and stores it in PLACE, which must be a
>>      valid generalized variable form.  If there are several PLACE and
>>      FORM pairs, the assignments are done sequentially just as with
>>      ‘setq’.  ‘setf’ returns the value of the last FORM.
>> 
>> I'd prefer
>> 
>>  -- Macro: setf [gv val]...
>>      This macro evaluates VAL and stores it in GV, which must be a
>>      valid generalized variable form.  If there are several GV and
>>      VAL pairs, the assignments are done sequentially just as with
>>      ‘setq’.  ‘setf’ returns the value of the last VAL.
>
> VAL stands for "value", and talking about "evaluating a value" makes
> little sense, IMO.

I mean describe-function on setq (in Emacs 28.2) starts:

    (setq [SYM VAL]...)

    Set each SYM to the value of its VAL.
    The symbols SYM are variables; they are literal (not evaluated).
    The values VAL are expressions; they are evaluated.

I was just following that.

> How about
>
>   This macro evaluates FORM and stores its value in PLACE, ...

It's better.

For me, I'm still not completely clear if "generalized
variable" is exactly the same as "place" and if "generalized
variable form" is the same as "place form".  That's what I'd
like to see clarity on and if they are the same, just use
one term.

-- 

Howard