From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Changes in revision 114466 Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 18:42:17 +0300 Message-ID: <83ioxie2p2.fsf@gnu.org> References: <831u49fkxk.fsf@gnu.org> <83pprse4mf.fsf@gnu.org> <87ioxk3x9z.fsf@zigzag.favinet> <8c8eb64b-74ca-4fba-bb35-a799582423da@default> <87txh24n7d.fsf@rosalinde.fritz.box> Reply-To: Eli Zaretskii NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1380555774 30687 80.91.229.3 (30 Sep 2013 15:42:54 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 15:42:54 +0000 (UTC) Cc: xfq.free@gmail.com, ttn@gnu.org, drew.adams@oracle.com, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Stephen Berman Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Sep 30 17:42:57 2013 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1VQfcb-0004Od-BW for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 30 Sep 2013 17:42:53 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:49889 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VQfca-0005jm-SD for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:42:52 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:60619) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VQfcS-0005iD-AZ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:42:50 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VQfcF-0002KH-8p for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:42:44 -0400 Original-Received: from mtaout23.012.net.il ([80.179.55.175]:65360) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VQfcF-0002K0-1E; Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:42:31 -0400 Original-Received: from conversion-daemon.a-mtaout23.012.net.il by a-mtaout23.012.net.il (HyperSendmail v2007.08) id <0MTY0090037VT700@a-mtaout23.012.net.il>; Mon, 30 Sep 2013 18:42:18 +0300 (IDT) Original-Received: from HOME-C4E4A596F7 ([87.69.4.28]) by a-mtaout23.012.net.il (HyperSendmail v2007.08) with ESMTPA id <0MTY009XQ3MIOV70@a-mtaout23.012.net.il>; Mon, 30 Sep 2013 18:42:18 +0300 (IDT) In-reply-to: <87txh24n7d.fsf@rosalinde.fritz.box> X-012-Sender: halo1@inter.net.il X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Solaris 10 X-Received-From: 80.179.55.175 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:163734 Archived-At: > From: Stephen Berman > Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 12:29:26 +0200 > Cc: Xue Fuqiao , Thien-Thi Nguyen , > emacs-devel > > [These functions/variables are] not meant to be used by other > packages [, which] means that something defined with "--" can > completely change (or disappear) from one release to the other. > > This suggests that developers who use them should be working on the > package they are in, hence reading and using the code and commentary of > that package. In contrast, documentation for developers is, I think, > aimed at explaining the code's public interface to use in developing > other packages, not its private, internal only interface (at least the > documentation in the manual; such functions/variables could have doc > strings). Indeed. The ELisp manual is aimed primarily at a Lisp programmer who develops Lisp programs, not necessarily Emacs per se. Someone who develops Emacs can rarely stay at the Lisp level for too long, so the documentation needed by Emacs developers should have a radically different orientation, and include information we currently don't have anywhere except in the comments. It is a good idea to have such documentation for Emacs developers, but no one stepped forward to do the job (which is not trivial).