From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Luc Teirlinck Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: new apropos feature in Emacs-22 Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 21:15:08 -0600 (CST) Message-ID: <200511120315.jAC3F8125736@raven.dms.auburn.edu> References: <200511050315.jA53Fjd19148@raven.dms.auburn.edu> <200511060027.jA60R2f26077@raven.dms.auburn.edu> <200511080458.jA84wXB17185@raven.dms.auburn.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1131765423 25701 80.91.229.2 (12 Nov 2005 03:17:03 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 03:17:03 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Nov 12 04:16:58 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Ealrq-0005YA-Cs for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 12 Nov 2005 04:15:50 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Ealrp-00061q-Nq for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 11 Nov 2005 22:15:49 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1EalrX-00061k-O9 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 11 Nov 2005 22:15:31 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1EalrW-00061Y-4K for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 11 Nov 2005 22:15:31 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1EalrW-00061V-1u for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 11 Nov 2005 22:15:30 -0500 Original-Received: from [131.204.53.104] (helo=manatee.dms.auburn.edu) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1EalrV-0004e9-AG; Fri, 11 Nov 2005 22:15:29 -0500 Original-Received: from raven.dms.auburn.edu (raven.dms.auburn.edu [131.204.53.29]) by manatee.dms.auburn.edu (8.13.3+Sun/8.13.3) with ESMTP id jAC3FS52015285; Fri, 11 Nov 2005 21:15:28 -0600 (CST) Original-Received: (from teirllm@localhost) by raven.dms.auburn.edu (8.11.7p1+Sun/8.11.7) id jAC3F8125736; Fri, 11 Nov 2005 21:15:08 -0600 (CST) X-Authentication-Warning: raven.dms.auburn.edu: teirllm set sender to teirllm@dms.auburn.edu using -f Original-To: rms@gnu.org In-reply-to: (rms@gnu.org) X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.0.1 (manatee.dms.auburn.edu [131.204.53.104]); Fri, 11 Nov 2005 21:15:28 -0600 (CST) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:45788 Archived-At: Richard Stallman wrote: The only think I can think of that would help beginners with such inputs would be to detect such cases and ask the user "Did you mean this as a regexp or as a list of keywords?" That question would help people without requiring them to remember in advance that the two options exist. It would be _very_ annoying if that question were asked each time that an input could be interpreted as a regexp, especially for people who are always going to use a regexp. Also, I believe that if a beginning user uses apropos, it usually is because they read some doc somewhere that told them that, for more info, they could run a specific apropos command with a specific regexp. If a _true_ newbie literally follows somebody else's instructions and he gets asked: keywords or regexps?, then he may not know what to do. Sincerely, Luc.