From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: How to make Emacs popular again. Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2020 17:13:30 +0300 Message-ID: <83k0w07qlx.fsf@gnu.org> References: <20200926163008.GS1349@protected.rcdrun.com> Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="32705"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Georges Ko Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Thu Oct 08 16:14:18 2020 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@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 1kQWgU-0008Py-4Q for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Thu, 08 Oct 2020 16:14:18 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:34576 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1kQWgT-00008h-4G for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Thu, 08 Oct 2020 10:14:17 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:35662) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1kQWfe-0007gJ-0G for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 08 Oct 2020 10:13:26 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::e]:36639) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1kQWfd-00047N-FZ; Thu, 08 Oct 2020 10:13:25 -0400 Original-Received: from [176.228.60.248] (port=3034 helo=home-c4e4a596f7) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:256) (Exim 4.82) (envelope-from ) id 1kQWfa-0001i7-91; Thu, 08 Oct 2020 10:13:23 -0400 In-Reply-To: (message from Georges Ko on Thu, 08 Oct 2020 22:05:07 +0800) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 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-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "Emacs-devel" Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:257207 Archived-At: > From: Georges Ko > Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2020 22:05:07 +0800 > > Regarding the Emacs Lisp manual, something that would be helpful is to > list the functions, user options, commands, etc. of each chapter at the > top or in its own section, so that one doesn't need to go to that > specific chapter just to get the forgotten name of a function or one can > quickly see all the symbols in one page for a topic. > > In the Common Lisp HyperSpec, each chapter has a dictionary chapter at > the end, listing all the functions, variables, etc. For example, if we > look at Strings in http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Body/16_.htm, > we can see: > > 16. Strings > 16.1 String Concepts > 16.2 The Strings Dictionary > > with the page "The Strings Dictionary" listing related elements: > > System Class STRING > Type BASE-STRING > Type SIMPLE-STRING > Type SIMPLE-BASE-STRING > Function SIMPLE-STRING-P > Accessor CHAR, SCHAR > Function STRING > Function STRING-UPCASE, STRING-DOWNCASE, STRING-CAPITALIZE, NSTRING-UPCASE, NSTRING-DOWNCASE, NSTRING-CAPITALIZE > Function STRING-TRIM, STRING-LEFT-TRIM, STRING-RIGHT-TRIM > Function STRING=, STRING/=, STRING<, STRING>, STRING<=, STRING>=, STRING-EQUAL, STRING-NOT-EQUAL, STRING-LESSP, STRING-GREATERP, STRING-NOT-GREATERP, STRING-NOT-LESSP > Function STRINGP > Function MAKE-STRING We support that via indexing: each symbol is indexed, and the command Info-index, bound to 'i', lands you exactly where the symbol is described. You don't even need to go through the section where it is described. Just type 'i SYMBOL RET" anywhere in the manual, and you should see the place where that SYMBOL is described. This is IMO more efficient that lists such as the one above, especially because these lists can be very long and time-consuming to search.