From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Dmitry Gutov Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Suggestion for improved clarity in xref.el symbol names Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2016 23:55:09 +0300 Message-ID: <22a19833-7133-ed1a-970c-c8b97eca8c78@yandex.ru> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1461099349 7812 80.91.229.3 (19 Apr 2016 20:55:49 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2016 20:55:49 +0000 (UTC) To: Robert Weiner , emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Apr 19 22:55:49 2016 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1ascgW-0000VF-3t for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 19 Apr 2016 22:55:48 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:36378 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ascgV-00034c-E9 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 19 Apr 2016 16:55:47 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:60040) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ascg1-0002Jr-1s for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 19 Apr 2016 16:55:17 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ascfw-0007nS-MU for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 19 Apr 2016 16:55:16 -0400 Original-Received: from mail-wm0-x241.google.com ([2a00:1450:400c:c09::241]:33004) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ascfw-0007nL-GV for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 19 Apr 2016 16:55:12 -0400 Original-Received: by mail-wm0-x241.google.com with SMTP id y144so8439550wmd.0 for ; Tue, 19 Apr 2016 13:55:11 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=sender:subject:to:references:from:message-id:date:user-agent :mime-version:in-reply-to:content-transfer-encoding; bh=2kGLKQd3jCPWcdCB+DfeEyv6opTgKQXbMVluJAMpTvY=; b=s+V2YA7i3qQXmAhDPgq9VSU9FoPMCQl5HkWWbqnvxVd9374mluYEi3vL6nqVYosx2M cBhaC4VCwIIq4Jdy3OHkWlFHGTf68g3Bqw3z248sDYbfNpTInVw3PYtoPSqqVs/tE41D /srhCWviZ+Qq3O4MYEGm/ErtpK34JW6fOmpCDl1ACcnyloVoIrqpFcnV6RcbNtve1FAu OiO7lid7PEGCjoQhLkSFTmcyMY1LwC+SZg6Ec9+A/UE0h7r9PDbUWpepEGU1iR8YQxkB x6zvCEboy1sEZQ1K8eDY5z1HRSWdqZIETHn0p3NVJLcFDURRbIhjt8gUOvSRgbRNqpE3 Qngg== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20130820; h=x-gm-message-state:sender:subject:to:references:from:message-id :date:user-agent:mime-version:in-reply-to:content-transfer-encoding; bh=2kGLKQd3jCPWcdCB+DfeEyv6opTgKQXbMVluJAMpTvY=; b=b4P1fniAAVO5HHtcUFFcRHw9kqqkhIaquF/WTHaBARprbXeuSRalcXWROcVZ2k4W+N RT+bvokpMz62IipWaQ2W0xhWOZuaH/b3T/d4xlRtiJj2sGi9SwfcCJsVjAAaJrszp+Dr Fp73v25r0J0/RvxxepnuOUWER3g1j4/xE4Vvqac3kGyNw2smWXGlCF7jwYuF3eOap9Kb rsWU6ddh3RSz1cY3ztSQMpMxwqmsE2vHywJQQo9SlA6yRCaaKlqOca5Ou9PI9AFy8wgV DIQMydFmaYWHr2Z8D8Iy77msqoejWnBqNxLkCdvnoLmjra+1RnUXt+UUtmLz3LJymswn YBHw== X-Gm-Message-State: AOPr4FVPVXQSw1xiy2jmDJfFDPBbpY0Jcg5jlOkyaU/6bgMmlmN6RT2IY80jH7Sw/6RdWQ== X-Received: by 10.28.104.131 with SMTP id d125mr24858857wmc.99.1461099311418; Tue, 19 Apr 2016 13:55:11 -0700 (PDT) Original-Received: from [192.168.1.2] ([185.105.175.24]) by smtp.googlemail.com with ESMTPSA id a73sm6185341wme.4.2016.04.19.13.55.10 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Tue, 19 Apr 2016 13:55:10 -0700 (PDT) User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/45.0 In-Reply-To: X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-Received-From: 2a00:1450:400c:c09::241 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "Emacs-devel" Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:203104 Archived-At: Hello Robert, On 04/19/2016 11:27 PM, Robert Weiner wrote: > The xref.el library has many variables and functions with `backend' in > them, indicating that they represent language-dependent entities. > Before the xref API is set in stone, I would consider replacing this > term with 'language' as it reads better in the names, Thanks for the suggestion, but a backend is not a language, it's a particular solution for a given language and/or environment. There will (hopefully) be multiple different backends for certain languages. There can be backends that are specific to a certain environment within a language (say, only projects using a particular framework), and so on. A backend can also be language-agnostic. In fact, one of the two backends available now is that (etags). > it refers to a > concept intrinsic to the cross-references themselves which are > language-specific, whereas backend is just an implementation detail, and > it will make more sense to users of the library who may not be familiar > with the concept of a `backend'. The functions and variables with the word "backend" in them are normally something only backend authors should be concerned with. And they should get familiar with the concept, because xref-backend-functions is the main entry point to this API. I'm not sure the phrase "xref language" could convey the same notion. The user-level commands don't have the word "backend" in them.