From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Kenichi Handa Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: A system for localizing documentation strings Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:53:02 +0900 Message-ID: References: <795F38F4-7253-47DC-97DD-53BED4F0AB97@mx6.tiki.ne.jp> <46A8B498.1070502@gnu.org> <46A8C099.6060401@gnu.org> <46A8C8A9.2070909@gnu.org> <7AF35BDF-18C0-4650-884A-3FB42EEA389C@mx6.tiki.ne.jp> <46A8CF66.4050402@gnu.org> <3A735187-31F6-47CB-A632-DB38D224564B@mx6.tiki.ne.jp> <86ir86kp6l.fsf@lola.quinscape.zz> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 (generated by SEMI 1.14.3 - "Ushinoya") Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1185540820 27103 80.91.229.12 (27 Jul 2007 12:53:40 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:53:40 +0000 (UTC) Cc: eliz@gnu.org, fusion@mx6.tiki.ne.jp, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: David Kastrup Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Jul 27 14:53:34 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1IEPK1-0007tT-3N for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:53:33 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1IEPK0-0007ZW-Oz for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:53:32 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1IEPJi-0007Te-0P for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:53:14 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1IEPJg-0007T4-Vr for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:53:13 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1IEPJg-0007T0-R7 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:53:12 -0400 Original-Received: from mx1.aist.go.jp ([150.29.246.133]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1IEPJe-00047b-AI; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:53:10 -0400 Original-Received: from rqsmtp1.aist.go.jp (rqsmtp1.aist.go.jp [150.29.254.115]) by mx1.aist.go.jp with ESMTP id l6RCr6xv007421; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:53:06 +0900 (JST) env-from (handa@m17n.org) Original-Received: from smtp1.aist.go.jp by rqsmtp1.aist.go.jp with ESMTP id l6RCr54x009338; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:53:05 +0900 (JST) env-from (handa@m17n.org) Original-Received: by smtp1.aist.go.jp with ESMTP id l6RCr2hb012712; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:53:02 +0900 (JST) env-from (handa@m17n.org) Original-Received: from handa by etlken.m17n.org with local (Exim 4.67) (envelope-from ) id 1IEPJW-00079Z-TQ; Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:53:02 +0900 In-reply-to: <86ir86kp6l.fsf@lola.quinscape.zz> (message from David Kastrup on Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:26:42 +0200) User-Agent: SEMI/1.14.3 (Ushinoya) FLIM/1.14.2 (Yagi-Nishiguchi) APEL/10.2 Emacs/23.0.0 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) MULE/6.0 (HANACHIRUSATO) X-detected-kernel: Solaris 8 (1) 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:75677 Archived-At: In article <86ir86kp6l.fsf@lola.quinscape.zz>, David Kastrup writes: > > variable names, etc. are mostly based on English words. If > > they are all some random alphabets something like > > "lkvkdloa", it's almost impossible to track codes. > Historically, Basic identifiers were restricted to two letters > (possibly also just one letter and an optional digit, don't remember). > Anyway, anecdotal story: in my youth, I had been dabbling in assembly > language quite a lot: it was the thing to do if you wanted to get > serious tasks done within the 64kB restraint. I have transferred one > arcade game from that time into C code about 14 years or so after it > had been written. Identifiers were confined to 6 letters. In most of > the program parts, the comments were exclusively numerical: > accumulated execution cycles. > The program flow was obvious and understandable. Of course, I had > written the program myself. > Another experience I remembered is disassembling a Reversi program. > It was a piece of beauty: the index registers of the Z80 were employed > in an obvious way mapping to the boards and the bookkeeping stacks > respectively, and the whole thing worked with heuristic tables and > alpha/beta-pruning. The control logic was concise and obvious. All I > had was the binary for understanding, and it was the work of a master, > nothing deliberate in it. I also had an experience to try to understand the system code of NEC PC8000 micro computer by disassembing Z80 codes. At that age, the total codes are at most 32K or 64K-byte. Good old days... What we are facing now is collections of sometimes 10-100 times bigger program pieces. If one spends weeks to understand just one piece of them, he can never have a time to write a code. :-p --- Kenichi Handa handa@m17n.org