From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Mario Domenech Goulart Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Documentation for car and cdr Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 21:45:14 +0000 Message-ID: <87hd7tl2qd.fsf@gmail.com> References: <873bjdmupx.fsf@gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1138146844 23494 80.91.229.2 (24 Jan 2006 23:54:04 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 23:54:04 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Jan 25 00:54:03 2006 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1F1Xz0-0007vi-6s for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 25 Jan 2006 00:53:54 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1F1Y1i-0002vF-EM for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:56:42 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1F1XZD-000243-Md for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:27:17 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1F1XZB-0001vq-5b for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:27:13 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1F1XZA-0001uI-Jf for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:27:12 -0500 Original-Received: from [64.233.162.192] (helo=zproxy.gmail.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1F1XWS-0003fO-M3 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:24:24 -0500 Original-Received: by zproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id 4so1386878nzn for ; Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:24:22 -0800 (PST) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:to:cc:subject:references:from:date:in-reply-to:message-id:user-agent:mime-version:content-type; b=dULkcl2QkiOzwIi3Xao/z75BS3qMtWQpJsv8ytUfQiFf5vtoAZpmpo6gQNLPk2MpMI9QmSHPwERpznR5utzBqZiqHpptmyBsJ/FhwWMgQ8uq1g7O4qfupfOmreUfqipEFDt/Ph4urp0zoZuHdyvPHS8Cvtz6p7BR1MG2Z1LW3V0= Original-Received: by 10.65.243.17 with SMTP id v17mr5508418qbr; Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:24:22 -0800 (PST) Original-Received: from nachos.gmail.com ( [200.175.64.146]) by mx.gmail.com with ESMTP id q13sm3837755qbq.2006.01.24.15.24.20; Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:24:22 -0800 (PST) Original-To: Kevin Rodgers In-Reply-To: (Kevin Rodgers's message of "Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:30:21 -0700") User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.0.50 (gnu/linux) 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:49502 Archived-At: On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:30:21 -0700 Kevin Rodgers wrote: > Mario Domenech Goulart wrote: >> Saying "car returns the car" and "cdr returns the cdr" doesn't sound >> very useful for me if I would like to know what car and cdr do, >> unless I knew what "car" and "cdr" mean (then I wouldn't check the >> documentation). :-) Wouldn't it be better to write something like >> "Return the first element of list" and "Return a list containing all >> but the first element of list" for car and cdr, respectively? > > I don't think so, but I know Lisp. Since english is not my native language, maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I noticed a little irony in this sentence (if I'm wrong, I apologize in advance). What I wanted to suggest is something simple as mentioned in the "An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" document. ,----[ http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-lisp-intro/html_node/car---cdr.html ] | The CDR of a list is the rest of the list, that is, the cdr function | returns the part of the list that follows the first item. `---- Again, I'm not sure if I understand you correctly, but it seems to me that you think the suggestion is not adequate because it's too simplistic (maybe wrong) and that's the reason of your sentence. Best wishes, Mario