From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Jean Louis Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: (*) -> 1 Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2023 11:32:22 +0300 Message-ID: References: <87y1q1kvdm.fsf@web.de> <87h6wpkrlq.fsf@web.de> <87zgahj7h3.fsf@web.de> <87cz7c9c9e.fsf@telefonica.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="12451"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: Mutt/2.2.9+54 (af2080d) (2022-11-21) Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org To: =?utf-8?B?w5NzY2Fy?= Fuentes Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Thu Jan 19 11:06:50 2023 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1pIRoo-000325-Hh for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; Thu, 19 Jan 2023 11:06:50 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pIQta-0000eo-V6; Thu, 19 Jan 2023 04:07:42 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pIQtV-0000eT-Sg for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 19 Jan 2023 04:07:37 -0500 Original-Received: from stw1.rcdrun.com ([217.170.207.13]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pIQtU-0003YM-8l for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 19 Jan 2023 04:07:37 -0500 Original-Received: from localhost ([::ffff:197.239.7.243]) (AUTH: PLAIN admin, TLS: TLS1.3,256bits,ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384) by stw1.rcdrun.com with ESMTPSA id 0000000000103A90.0000000063C90858.00002425; Thu, 19 Jan 2023 02:07:36 -0700 Mail-Followup-To: =?utf-8?B?w5NzY2Fy?= Fuentes , help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <87cz7c9c9e.fsf@telefonica.net> Received-SPF: pass client-ip=217.170.207.13; envelope-from=bugs@gnu.support; helo=stw1.rcdrun.com X-Spam_score_int: -17 X-Spam_score: -1.8 X-Spam_bar: - X-Spam_report: (-1.8 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, RCVD_IN_SBL=0.141, SPF_HELO_PASS=-0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no X-Spam_action: no action X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.help:142389 Archived-At: * Óscar Fuentes [2023-01-18 16:58]: > Jean Louis writes: > > > * Michael Heerdegen [2023-01-17 22:20]: > >> The question of use is a valid one, we missed to answer it yet. It > >> wasn't clear to me that this was part of what you are asking for. > > > > Yes, that one. > > > > Why authors decided to have (*) ➜ 1 which in case of me who could > > delete some argument like from (* tonnes quantity) I could by mistake > > delete "tonnes and quantity" and result of (*) would not be detected > > because there is no error > > Throwing an error on this case is a reasonable possibility for the > language designers, but instead they decided to extend * to zero and one > arguments. Why? because it is convenient, because it makes possible to > do things like (apply '* some-list) without caring about how many > elements some-list has, which is handy when some-list comes from a place > you don't control. That explanation sounds like neglect in programming. I have mentioned that PicoLisp can `apply' with (*) yielding NIL. Try it out. ~$ pil : (*) -> NIL : (+) -> NIL : (apply '* '(2 3)) -> 6 it means it is not really to give relief to other functions. And there is nothing wrong for apply to yell the error when arguments are missing to the function. If you have some reference to that reasoning that (*) is related to `apply' from language designer, let me know. -- Jean Take action in Free Software Foundation campaigns: https://www.fsf.org/campaigns In support of Richard M. Stallman https://stallmansupport.org/