bug#17872: 24.4.50; "primitive" in (elisp) `Advising Functions' and similar nodes

[Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

> > Please use some other term than "primitive" for what is intended
> > here.  The term "primitive" already has a different meaning
> > in Emacs, which you can find by using `i primitive RET' in the
> > Elisp manual:
> >
> >  "primitive"
> >      A function which is callable from Lisp but is actually written
> >      in C.  Primitives are also called "built-in functions", or
> >      "subrs".
> >      Examples include functions like `car' and `append'.  In
> >      addition, all special forms (see below) are also considered
> >      primitives.
> 
> Are you referring to (for instance) this text?
> 
> ---
> Emacs's advice system provides two sets of primitives for that: the
> core set, for function values held in variables and object
> fields (with the corresponding primitives being @code{add-function}
> and @code{remove-function}) and another set layered on top of it
> for named functions (with the main primitives being
> @code{advice-add} and @code{advice-remove}).

Yes, and as the bug title says, "and similar nodes".

> Nowhere in this node (and the subsequent nodes) is the word "primitive"
> used in reference to a function or the like, 
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Uh, I beg to differ.  All of the "primitives" in the
text you just quoted are functions.  And that text
explicitly refers to them as functions.

They are _functions_, and they are not coded in C.

> but in the phrase "Core Advising Primitives" or similar.
> I don't think there's much scope for confusion with the
> other use of the word,

The undefined term "core" here presumably means
that these are the basic, or fundamental functions
used for advice.  Though undefined here, "core" is
OK.  What's not OK (it's misleading) is "primitive".

"Core Advising Functions" or "Basic Advising
Functions" would be clearer, and would not invite
confusion with Emacs primitives, which are callable
from Lisp but written in C.

Either that or perhaps you would like to rewrite
the longstanding text that defines "primitive" as
a function or special form written in C.

> so I'm closing this bug report.

Unfortunate.