From: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
To: rms@gnu.org
Cc: larsi@gnus.org, 46627@debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command'
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2021 01:18:02 -0600 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <CADwFkmkNvH4Cd1VSf8Q_yjwHrzwV=sbPud+GOJZw4iPKC84n9g@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <E1lDi5L-0005Qb-Jc@fencepost.gnu.org>
Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:
> Is this really what people do? I am surprised people find it useful,
> surprised that you can ever find a command name that way.
Yes, we have evidence of this on emacs-devel. I do it myself at times.
> If you have seen users do it, can you say more about the situations
> where it is effective?
I can't claim that it is the most effective technique in general.
I would use it when I am certain that I almost know the name of a
command -- I would know it if I see it. In such situations, firing up
apropos is an extra step and not what I want. Today, I just use `C-h f'
and manually filter for what is likely the command I am looking for.
With `describe-command', this would be a better experience.
But I think the use of `describe-command' goes beyond this one use-case.
In particular, I don't think end-users should need to filter through a
massive, intimidating list of functions when they are just looking for a
command.
(BTW, in the completion framework I often use, `ivy', there is a command
to run the action associated with the minibuffer without leaving the
minibuffer. That is, I run `C-h f', type in some text to complete on,
and then hit `C-M-n' to repeatedly see the full documentation for a
number of commands. This is a very effective way to scan for the
correct function, often much more effective than apropos. But vanilla
Emacs currently does not support this, AFAIK.)
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2021-02-21 7:18 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 86+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2021-02-19 1:06 bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command' Stefan Kangas
2021-02-19 8:42 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-19 17:42 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-19 18:38 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-20 3:25 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 4:25 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-20 8:20 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 7:44 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-19 20:05 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 4:10 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 8:18 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 17:10 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 13:08 ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-22 15:58 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-04-28 13:58 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-04-28 14:17 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-05-02 13:14 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 12:56 ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-20 12:59 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 16:16 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 14:04 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 16:06 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-20 16:09 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 20:06 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-20 20:17 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 20:54 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-20 16:39 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 16:49 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 20:35 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-20 20:46 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 21:16 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21 15:07 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 17:55 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21 18:11 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 18:30 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-26 21:34 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-27 8:04 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-27 17:46 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21 6:19 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 7:18 ` Stefan Kangas [this message]
2021-02-21 15:27 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 16:39 ` Howard Melman
2021-02-21 18:01 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-21 17:01 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 17:36 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 18:02 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 18:21 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 19:57 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-02-21 20:13 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 23:46 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-02-22 15:18 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-27 20:38 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-02-28 17:27 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-28 21:40 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-01 6:05 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-02 1:40 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-02 5:31 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-02 12:55 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-02 13:47 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 17:57 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-21 17:33 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21 13:06 ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-21 6:27 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 6:10 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 6:27 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-19 13:12 ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-19 18:27 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-19 18:43 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 6:18 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 6:27 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-20 6:56 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-20 7:14 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 6:19 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 6:27 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 7:17 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-22 6:23 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-24 3:28 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-27 18:58 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-01 5:18 ` Richard Stallman
2021-03-01 16:13 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-03-02 6:29 ` Richard Stallman
2021-03-02 6:50 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-03 5:55 ` Richard Stallman
2021-03-03 15:26 ` Drew Adams
2021-03-03 16:14 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-02 16:52 ` Drew Adams
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