From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>
To: 25292@debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#25292: Ambiguity in doc string of defvar
Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:18:38 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20161229181838.GB2531@acm.fritz.box> (raw)
Hello, Emacs.
The doc string for defvar includes this bit:
The optional argument INITVALUE is evaluated, and used to set
SYMBOL, only if SYMBOL's value is void.
Supposing SYMBOL's value is bound. Clearly it does not get set to
INITVALUE. But in this case is INITVALUE evaluated (and the result
discarded) or not? The text leaves this ambiguous. An improvement
would be the appropriate one of the following:
If SYMBOL's value is void, the optional argument INITVALUE is
evaluated and used to set SYMBOL.
INITVALUE is evaluated, and if SYMBOL's value is void, it is used to
set SYMBOL.
--
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).
next reply other threads:[~2016-12-29 18:18 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2016-12-29 18:18 Alan Mackenzie [this message]
2016-12-29 18:29 ` bug#25292: Ambiguity in doc string of defvar Eli Zaretskii
2016-12-29 19:42 ` Alan Mackenzie
2016-12-29 20:35 ` Eli Zaretskii
2016-12-29 20:57 ` Alan Mackenzie
2016-12-30 7:46 ` Eli Zaretskii
2016-12-30 9:02 ` Alan Mackenzie
2016-12-30 9:42 ` Eli Zaretskii
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