Strange dynamic variable buf in ielm-send-input

Strange dynamic variable buf in ielm-send-input

[Luc Teirlinck]

Take:

(defun ielm-send-input nil
  "Evaluate the Emacs Lisp expression after the prompt."
  (interactive)
  (let ((buf (current-buffer))
        ielm-input)			; set by ielm-input-sender
    (comint-send-input)		      ; update history, markers etc.
    (ielm-eval-input ielm-input)))


That dynamically bound variable "buf" does not only _not_ get used in
the function ielm-send-input, but also nowhere else in ielm.el, nor in
comint.el.  I do not know whether it is a remnant of a prior version
in which it was used (in which case it should obviously be removed),
or whether it is meant to provide the user with a way to refer to the
current ielm buffer in IELM expressions.  (Because (current-buffer)
yields the working buffer, not necessarily the ielm buffer, the ielm
buffer may have been renamed and although (window-buffer) will most of
the time refer to the actual IELM buffer, it may not be 100% reliable
either.)

If the latter is the purpose, then I believe that that purpose should
be documented in the docstring and also that the variable should be
renamed to ielm-buffer or something similar, because buf can just too
easily be overridden.

Sincerely,

Luc.

Re: Strange dynamic variable buf in ielm-send-input

[Richard Stallman]

    If the latter is the purpose, then I believe that that purpose should
    be documented in the docstring and also that the variable should be
    renamed to ielm-buffer or something similar, because buf can just too
    easily be overridden.

The documentation of IELM mentions some variables meant for user
expressions, but does not mention `buf' that way.  So I don't think
this is a feature meant for users.  I would suggest deleting it.  You
could check whether old versions of IELM used `buf' in some other way.