Re: [ELPA] New package: dict

[Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>]

Eshel Yaron <me@eshelyaron.com> writes:

> Eli, Philip, thanks for looking into it.
>
> Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net> writes:
>
>> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>>
>>>> From: Eshel Yaron <me@eshelyaron.com>
>>>> Date: Thu, 11 May 2023 16:22:06 +0300
>>>> 
>>>> The main motivation behind this package was to resolve some usability issues
>>>> that I came across with dictionary.el.  Namely, I'm not satisfied with the fact
>>>> that dictionary.el unconditionally switches to the *Dictionary* buffer when
>>>> displaying a definition, and I don't appreciate how it tries to remember my
>>>> previous windows configuration and revert back to it when I close the
>>>> *Dictionary* buffer with the q key.  Of course, I'm open to the possibility of
>>>> modifying dictionary.el instead of adding this separate package GNU ELPA if
>>>> anyone thinks that's preferable, but I also think it would be nice to let people
>>>> try out Dict and get some feedback beforehand.
>>>
>>> I think if we could augment dictionary.el so as to satisfy your needs,
>>> perhaps as some kind of minor mode or user option, that would be
>>> better than having an entirely separate package.
>
> Alright, I can give augmenting dictionary.el a shot.  The way I see it,
> this has the downside that it'll only be available in Emacs 30, and I'm
> not sure how elegant that's gonna be, but I guess I can put a patch
> together for emacs.git and then reassess.
>
>> I don't think that is possible, Eshel writes on his website:
>>
>>    Dict’s differentiation comes from its simplicity and
>>    extensibility–while dictionary.el defines a bespoke major mode and
>>    interface for browsing word definitions, Dict leverages Emacs’s Help
>>    mode by default, and let’s you extend and control every aspect of its
>>    behavior via customization options.
>>
>>    dict.el is also shorter than dictionary.el–just under 300 lines of
>>    code!
>>
>> This is a ERC vs rcirc like situation.
>
> I'm afraid I haven't used ERC enough to understand this comparison, 

rcirc and ERC are just two different IRC clients, respectively
minimalist and maximalist.

>                                                                     does
> it imply that you think it'll be hard to keep Dict's simplicity intact
> upon incorporating it with dictionary.el?

Right, you'll either have to remove stuff from dictionary.el that people
have started to depend on, or ignore that fact.