Re: Symbols or strings as arguments

[Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org>]

Heime via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org> writes:

> I wonder whether developers would preferentially use symbols rather
> than strings in arguments.
>
> Consider calling (cupola '(72 tabtrail local)) versus (cupola '(72
> "tabtrail" "local"))

Obviously, it depends.  If the arguments are essentially an enumeration,
i.e., the possible/allowed values are just a small set, then I'd use
symbols or keywords.  E.g., an argument location with possible values
local and remote => :local / :remote.  An argument first-name, well,
that's a string because it can be anything.

It also depends on the usage of the argument.  If you just print it out,
a string is fine.  If you dispatch on it (using case, pcase, cond),
keywords and symbols are probably better.  Mostly because they stand out
a bit and it's immediately visible that they have special meaning
affecting the control flow.

Bye,
Tassilo