From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.ciao.gmane.io!not-for-mail From: Stefan Kangas Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.bugs Subject: bug#41021: [PATCH] New command apropos-function Date: Sat, 02 May 2020 13:35:46 +0200 Message-ID: <87v9le4lil.fsf@stefankangas.se> References: <83h7wytxaf.fsf@gnu.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="ciao.gmane.io:159.69.161.202"; logging-data="93464"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/28.0.50 (gnu/linux) Cc: 41021@debbugs.gnu.org To: Eli Zaretskii Original-X-From: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Sat May 02 13:36:12 2020 Return-path: Envelope-to: geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1jUqRG-000OBY-Mr for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; Sat, 02 May 2020 13:36:10 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:40182 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jUqRF-0001pE-Kx for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; 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Original-Received: from h-4-70-69.a785.priv.bahnhof.se ([155.4.70.69]:34460 helo=localhost) by ted.gofardesign.uk with esmtpsa (TLS1.2) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.93) (envelope-from ) id 1jUqQu-000gIk-WE; Sat, 02 May 2020 07:35:49 -0400 In-Reply-To: <83h7wytxaf.fsf@gnu.org> (Eli Zaretskii's message of "Sat, 02 May 2020 14:02:16 +0300") X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - ted.gofardesign.uk X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - debbugs.gnu.org X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - marxist.se X-Get-Message-Sender-Via: ted.gofardesign.uk: authenticated_id: stefan@marxist.se X-Authenticated-Sender: ted.gofardesign.uk: stefan@marxist.se X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list X-Received-From: 209.51.188.43 X-BeenThere: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org List-Id: "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "bug-gnu-emacs" Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.bugs:179496 Archived-At: Eli Zaretskii writes: > OK, but now that you have read it, why do we still need an additional > command? This is not about me personally. I related my experience only as a description of a likely use-case. > If you type "M-x apropos TAB", how many commands you see there > already? If I count correctly, I see 13 commands: - apropos - apropos-command - apropos-documentation - apropos-follow - apropos-library - apropos-local-value - apropos-local-variable - apropos-mode - apropos-next-symbol - apropos-previous-symbol - apropos-user-option - apropos-value - apropos-variable >From looking at that list, I have concluded in the past that there is no way to search for functions, but only interactive commands. This is not a bad first approximation, I think, based on seeing the list of completions. Only upon reading the docstring of 'apropos-command' will you understand that this conclusion was wrong. But why would you even look there? The nature of these functions is to _narrow_ the search in comparison to straight 'apropos'. It is not natural to expect that there might be a prefix argument you could use to _widen_ it again. In effect I have to say "display only those functions that *are* commands, only in this case I want to include also all functions that *are not* commands". > Is it a good idea to add one more, when we already have the same > functionality? Yes, I don't see why not. We have precedent. >> I think a new command would help make this feature more >> discoverable, especially to beginners. > > We are being told many beginners don't even want to use the apropos commands. I would disagree with that statement; on the contrary, apropos is an important tool /particularly/ to beginners. I'm sure you agree. Best regards, Stefan Kangas