From: Sean Whitton <spwhitton@spwhitton.name>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
Cc: philipk@posteo.net, emacs-devel@gnu.org
Subject: Re: New optional Eshell module: em-elecslash
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2022 09:52:59 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <87wnfluiac.fsf@athena.silentflame.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <837d7oz0vo.fsf@gnu.org>
Hello,
On Sun 17 Apr 2022 at 09:20am +03, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> IME, use of passive tense is not the "disease", it's a symptom. The
> "disease" is overly complicated sentences that make the text hard to
> understand. Using passive tense is a good indicator that the
> structure of the text is sub-optimal and needs to be rethought.
> Trying to use active tense as much as possible in many cases leads to
> such rethinking and makes the text more clear.
>
> For example, here's how I'd rephrase the above paragraph:
>
> To help you type file-name arguments to remote commands, add the
> @code{eshell-elecslash} module to @code{eshell-modules-list}. Then
> typing the first @kbd{/} character of a command-line argument will
> automatically insert the Tramp prefix if the
> @code{default-directory} is remote. If this is not what you want
> (e.g., you want to type a local absolute file name instead), type
> another @kbd{/} to undo this automatic prefix insertion. Typing
> @kbd{~/} also inserts the Tramp prefix. By contrast, typing
> arguments to external commands, which always run locally, doesn't
> insert the prefix. The result is that in most cases you get the
> Tramp prefix inserted automatically only when you should reasonably
> expect it.
>
> Do you see how using the active tense makes the text more clear?
> Another thing to remember for writing clear documentation is not to
> put the important parts too far near the end of a sentence; the above
> rewording fixed a few instances of that in your original text.
Thanks for this, I will read it carefully and revise my patch.
> No, the NEWS entries where the first line is not a complete sentence
> ending in a period are in error and should be fixed. (We usually fix
> that close to starting a pretest, if not earlier.)
Good to know.
> We all bump into that from time to time. Some techniques for dealing
> with the difficulties:
>
> . omit some less important parts, like "the" etc.
> . rearrange the text to make it shorter (for example, say "buffer
> text" instead of "the text of the buffer")
> . omit less important details from the first sentence, and describe
> them in the following parts of the doc string
Right, I'll try to be more willing to say less in that first sentence.
--
Sean Whitton
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2022-04-19 16:52 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 18+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2022-01-27 2:48 Optional Eshell modules -- to emacs.git or ELPA? Sean Whitton
2022-01-29 11:51 ` Philip Kaludercic
2022-04-16 18:57 ` New optional Eshell module: em-elecslash Sean Whitton
2022-04-16 19:18 ` Eli Zaretskii
2022-04-16 20:04 ` Sean Whitton
2022-04-16 21:42 ` [External] : " Drew Adams
2022-04-17 6:20 ` Eli Zaretskii
2022-04-17 16:48 ` [External] : " Drew Adams
2022-04-19 16:52 ` Sean Whitton [this message]
2022-04-20 0:36 ` Sean Whitton
2022-04-20 6:19 ` Eli Zaretskii
2022-04-20 20:14 ` Sean Whitton
2022-04-21 6:15 ` Eli Zaretskii
2022-04-16 21:12 ` Sean Whitton
2022-04-16 22:58 ` Stefan Monnier
2022-04-17 5:02 ` Sean Whitton
2022-04-17 6:24 ` Jim Porter
2022-04-19 15:28 ` Sean Whitton
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