From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: William Case Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: elisp beginner's parens question ?? Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:23:20 -0400 Message-ID: <1177608200.3158.62.camel@CASE> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1177608220 28803 80.91.229.12 (26 Apr 2007 17:23:40 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:23:40 +0000 (UTC) To: EMACS List Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Apr 26 19:23:39 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1Hh7gw-0006Es-Gd for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 26 Apr 2007 19:23:38 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Hh7mh-0008FY-4U for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:29:35 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1Hh7mU-0008FT-Ba for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:29:22 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1Hh7mR-0008FH-V5 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:29:21 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Hh7mR-0008FE-QM for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:29:19 -0400 Original-Received: from smtp107.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com ([68.142.225.205]) by monty-python.gnu.org with smtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1Hh7gg-0007OZ-Bl for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:23:22 -0400 Original-Received: (qmail 8685 invoked from network); 26 Apr 2007 17:23:21 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=rogers.com; h=Received:X-YMail-OSG:Subject:From:To:Content-Type:Date:Message-Id:Mime-Version:X-Mailer:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=daFIu1Bd/DoXS0RzCsVZYxygyTG405ASfau90GjU4V9i4TDiPKbKvRKQ72bKMXVUueCM9g8yu0HMpMSYCPyZvRotAggebUxUm0a7CZ1y5PoF9nehLm2uJMwLuK1QaUp8l+nUTgkpDdDRguXdfePBdQU4pYEYFwZGSU6ooj7tb0U= ; Original-Received: from unknown (HELO ?192.168.1.3?) (billlinux@rogers.com@74.104.51.86 with plain) by smtp107.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com with SMTP; 26 Apr 2007 17:23:21 -0000 X-YMail-OSG: YhIisCQVM1nKAgl5PSv7JmZ1F3PJLz0e7Qw33xoSDT60_6xj2y.ayZkaH3zsyeaFgQ-- X-Mailer: Evolution 2.8.3 (2.8.3-2.fc6) X-detected-kernel: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:43232 Archived-At: Hi; I am working my way through the tutorial. First, complements to whoever wrote it. I don't know if it has been updated in the last two years, or if I have picked up enough to understand the very basic subject matter it deals with, but my first try two and a half years ago left me completely baffled. This time through at a slow and steady pace -- everything is clear. Secondly, I have some questions about debugging parenthesis errors. I had the following practice function which was giving me debug errors. It has been fixed so I am not asking for a solution. ( ... ( ... " ..." ( ... })) ^ error. However my questions are these: When I used check-parens, the cursor stopped on the first left paren whether the error was later tested on the last, second last or third last right parens. Why is this? I can see a situation with far more than three parens that would take more than a few seconds to chase down the error. Is there or can there be check-parens that shows which grouping has the wrong parens or needs one added? There didn't seem to be any distinction between a double quotes error and a parenthesis error? The question that flows from the above is how does the interpreter nest parens? Does the outside right and left parens go with, say, a basic defun declaration, and then work its way inwards? Or, does it just count the number of left parens and compare it with the number of right? Do you have any mental tips or tricks you use to check the parens balance when you get an error that you can pass on to a newbie like me? -- Regards Bill