From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Miles Bader Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: ChangeLog fontifications Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 17:56:23 -0400 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <20040513215623.GA14133@fencepost> References: <200405132050.00109.bruno@clisp.org> <871xloxezs.fsf@wesley.springies.com> <20040513.233755.258207743.wl@gnu.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1084485779 9846 80.91.224.253 (13 May 2004 22:02:59 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 22:02:59 +0000 (UTC) Cc: ats@acm.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Fri May 14 00:02:54 2004 Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1BOOI2-0003WY-00 for ; Fri, 14 May 2004 00:02:54 +0200 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1BOOI1-00028C-00 for ; Fri, 14 May 2004 00:02:53 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1BOOFz-0005TL-SQ for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Thu, 13 May 2004 18:00:47 -0400 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.34) id 1BOOCK-0004IN-4T for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 13 May 2004 17:57:00 -0400 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.34) id 1BOOBm-00048X-Rn for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 13 May 2004 17:56:58 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.164] (helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1BOOBk-00047y-Ep for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 13 May 2004 17:56:26 -0400 Original-Received: from miles by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.34) id 1BOOBj-0003t7-Rd; Thu, 13 May 2004 17:56:23 -0400 Original-To: Werner LEMBERG Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20040513.233755.258207743.wl@gnu.org> User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.28i Blat: Foop X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.4 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:23357 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:23357 On Thu, May 13, 2004 at 11:37:55PM +0200, Werner LEMBERG wrote: > This ChangeLog style is a typographic nightmare IMHO. On the contrary, it looks quite nice. IMO. In fact I find it more readable than the `traditional' format, as it provides the same advantage for the human reader that it does for a parser: it makes the type of a line obviously identifiable by looking for a token in the left margin, where it's very easy to see. [The alternative format you suggest, `(a)(b)(c)' does not provide any real advantage for the reader -- embedded ") (" pairs are in fact _harder_ to parse for a human than commas because they're busier, and less familiar.] > What on earth was the reason to invent such a convention? Because (1) it's more friendly to line-oriented parsers (like font-lock, but also external tools [*]), and (2) it looks quite nice. [*] Indeed, rather _more_ important for external tools, because many unix scripting languages &c are quite line-oriented, more so that emacs is. -Miles -- Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us. -- Jerry Garcia