From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: =?utf-8?Q?=C3=93scar_Fuentes?= Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Marking old window variables obsolete Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2012 20:37:56 +0200 Message-ID: <87mx23j4hn.fsf@wanadoo.es> References: <87fw7wpfid.fsf@gnu.org> <6863B68E762149B28EF9C1A159D441A3@us.oracle.com> <83r4rgdpgt.fsf@gnu.org> <83mx24dn26.fsf@gnu.org> <2C6E1B3A8D6C411980AFBD9472E76E03@us.oracle.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1344537509 14419 80.91.229.3 (9 Aug 2012 18:38:29 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2012 18:38:29 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Aug 09 20:38:27 2012 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 1SzXcl-00087a-NE for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 09 Aug 2012 20:38:23 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:49135 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SzXck-0007gT-UH for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:38:22 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:58550) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SzXci-0007fw-2l for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:38:21 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SzXce-0006hg-TF for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:38:20 -0400 Original-Received: from plane.gmane.org ([80.91.229.3]:38129) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SzXce-0006hR-MO for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:38:16 -0400 Original-Received: from list by plane.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1SzXcc-0007pD-HH for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 09 Aug 2012 20:38:14 +0200 Original-Received: from 37.red-81-32-92.dynamicip.rima-tde.net ([81.32.92.37]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Thu, 09 Aug 2012 20:38:14 +0200 Original-Received: from ofv by 37.red-81-32-92.dynamicip.rima-tde.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Thu, 09 Aug 2012 20:38:14 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Original-Lines: 20 Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: 37.red-81-32-92.dynamicip.rima-tde.net User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.1.50 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:mG0DVSDl2u9T8xC8dqsyrTmJfW0= X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-Received-From: 80.91.229.3 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:152372 Archived-At: "Drew Adams" writes: > Sheesh. If that's the only way users can be encouraged to adopt the new > machinery, that doesn't say much about how appealing it is, does it? > > Users generally have little problem adopting new features that they find (or > even suspect might be) useful. Really? Even if we supposse that everybody reads the NEWS file and are willing to adapt their perfectly working configuration on accordance, your approach would limit the set of acceptable new features to those which are indisputably more useful than the functionality they replace/modify for the taste of (almost?) all the Emacs user population. What's reasonable, IMHO, is to add clear instructions to the docstrings of those variables and functions explaining how to migrate to the new machinery. If those instructions turn to be too complex, it is an indication that the new system is not so good. A good practice is to do those kind of documentation tasks at the design phase of the new machinary as a preemptive usability check.