Re: save-excursion and the mark

[Barry Warsaw <barry@python.org>]

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On Feb 24, 2015, at 10:01 PM, Stefan Monnier wrote:

>Users aren't really relevant here because they wouldn't know if the code
>they run relies on this behavior.  Only package authors would know.

Just a quick response and then I'll stop.

I disagree.  Lots of users write little bits of lisp, or get lisp from their
colleagues and friends.  Much of it may never get published outside their
small network or corporate walls.  The point is that this is a long-published
and API and you will never know everyone who is relying on the documented
behavior.

When it's sometimes necessary to break an API, it's best to do it in a
backward compatible way, or progressively deprecate it.  In any case, I think
it's important to justify the break with a compelling rationale.  "Unused
AFAICT" often isn't such exactly because you can't reach your entire user
base, and you can't know how they are using it.

Cheers,
-Barry

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