From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>
To: John Mastro <john.b.mastro@gmail.com>
Cc: 25462@debbugs.gnu.org, Noam Postavsky <npostavs@users.sourceforge.net>
Subject: bug#25462: Out of date doc string for "`".
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2017 20:55:25 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20170118205525.GF4108@acm.fritz.box> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAOj2CQRJQJP3GEaY-9XHsvzT=-fOyOwLOkh6L0E7FNYxF_PvAQ@mail.gmail.com>
Hello, John.
On Tue, Jan 17, 2017 at 01:17:27PM -0800, John Mastro wrote:
> Noam Postavsky <npostavs@users.sourceforge.net> wrote:
> > On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 4:30 PM, Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> wrote:
> >> Hello, Emacs.
> >> The doc string for "`" has become partial.
> >> It fails to mention that "`" has a radically different meaning when used
> >> in certain parts of a `pcase', and probably quite a few other similar
> >> macros.
> > I don't think that makes sense. Similarly, we don't add a mention of
> > `cl-loop's use of `if' in the docstring of `if', because that's not
> > part of the `if' special form. It's just a use of `if' as a plain
> > symbol.
> Since the misunderstanding is believing that "`" is more special than it
> is, maybe something calling out its ordinariness could be appropriate
> (and throw in a reference to pcase as an example?)
"`" is very special. So special, indeed, that its syntax is handled by
the Lisp reader.
> I don't think this is great, but, as an example:
> Note that `\\=`' is any ordinary Lisp symbol and thus may be treated
> as data or given different meanings in particular contexts. For
> instance, it has a special meaning inside `pcase' patterns.
I think that's objectively wrong. "`" isn't an ordinary Lisp symbol,
it's a reader macro which is handled in the reader. There aren't many
of these macros, and only a very few in normal use.
Besides, we don't want to encourage people to reuse existing symbols for
unconnected purposes.
--
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2017-01-18 20:55 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 12+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2017-01-16 21:30 bug#25462: Out of date doc string for "`" Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-16 21:52 ` Noam Postavsky
2017-01-17 20:05 ` Alan Mackenzie
2017-01-18 2:04 ` npostavs
2017-01-17 21:17 ` John Mastro
2017-01-18 20:55 ` Alan Mackenzie [this message]
2017-01-18 22:14 ` Noam Postavsky
2017-01-18 20:40 ` Alan Mackenzie
2021-09-25 16:12 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-09-26 6:46 ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-09-26 7:17 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-09-26 20:31 ` Alan Mackenzie
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