Re: Tree-sitter introduction documentation

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>
> Cc: Yuan Fu <casouri@gmail.com>,  Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>,
>   Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>,  Dmitry Gutov <dgutov@yandex.ru>,  Tim
>  Cross <theophilusx@gmail.com>,  emacs-devel@gnu.org
> Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2022 18:12:26 +0000
> 
> > As you know, regular users do not need to install the complete
> > toolchain, a C and C++ compiler is enough.  It is only those few users
> > that want to change the grammars or create new grammars that need a
> > complete toolchain.
> 
> I should clarify that these are the users I am concerned with, and
> without a reason to, I do not distinguish from "regular" users.
> 
> My main worry with these changes, along with the popularity of LSP is
> that while they are technological improvements, they all happen at the
> deterioration of Emacs' introspectability, increasing the effort it
> takes for the user to make changes.  IIUC you can't reload a .el file or
> just a singular expression if you want to change how completion via
> Eglot or how imenu works via Tree Sitter.  A simple hack becomes a
> weekend project.  This is not an unconditional good.

Yes, TANSTAAFL.

And I think you exaggerate quite a lot.  It is wrong not to
distinguish between users who tinker with language grammars and the
rest of them.  Modifying a parser's grammar requires non-trivial
knowledge, and thus most users will not go there.  Just like most
users will not try hacking the Emacs display code or GC.  So the
possibility to modify the grammar should exist, of course, but having
to install a bunch of packages and their dependencies is nowhere near
a serious problem.  Because if it is, then we have similar problems
with librsvg, for example, because you need a Rust installation to
modify it.  And there are other similar difficulties with other
optional libraries we use.

So let's stay focused on letting our "normal" users use the benefits
of these technologies first, and care about those who want to change
the grammars second.