Re: pp-eval-expression enhancements

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

>> I'm afraid that it's still too early: the user still has to decide where the
>> result goes before seeing that result.  A better option might be to provide
>> a new command that can be executed right after M-: which would show the last
>> result in a separate buffer, pretty printed, highlighted, and all.

> I think a new display command to execute after M-: can be useful only
> when the user doesn't know beforehand what the output will look like.
> But in most cases before executing M-: or M-!, I know what the output
> I expect and what I want to do with the output (search/edit/copy-paste...)

That's very much not my case.  The way I typically use M-: is as follows:

- M-: <something> RET
  [ doesn't give me what I want, either because of a typo, or because
  I need to refine the command. ]
- M-: M-p <edit> RET
  [ still doesn't give me what I want. ]
- M-: M-p <moreedits> RET
  [ Ah, now that's what I wanted to see. ]
- And now, if I need to see the result elsewhere, then I'll do
  C-u M-: M-p RET

So even if I know that I will want to insert the output at point, I still
want to first see this result to make sure that it's indeed the one I want.


        Stefan