From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Arbitrary function: find the number(s) of expected arguments Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2016 21:39:07 +0200 Message-ID: <83oaaa6yw4.fsf@gnu.org> References: <56E8906C.5050405@lanl.gov> <83y49e731p.fsf@gnu.org> <87wpoyclh2.fsf@web.de> Reply-To: Eli Zaretskii NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1458416394 30921 80.91.229.3 (19 Mar 2016 19:39:54 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2016 19:39:54 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Michael Heerdegen Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Mar 19 20:39:46 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 1ahMiv-0004Km-Lv for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 20:39:45 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:50196 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ahMiu-0005wy-U7 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 15:39:44 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:37765) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ahMiq-0005uj-LW for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 15:39:41 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ahMil-0007Pl-JT for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 15:39:40 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::e]:34558) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ahMil-0007PS-FW; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 15:39:35 -0400 Original-Received: from 84.94.185.246.cable.012.net.il ([84.94.185.246]:4622 helo=home-c4e4a596f7) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:128) (Exim 4.82) (envelope-from ) id 1ahMik-0001O4-LC; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 15:39:35 -0400 In-reply-to: <87wpoyclh2.fsf@web.de> (message from Michael Heerdegen on Sat, 19 Mar 2016 20:32:25 +0100) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-Received-From: 2001:4830:134:3::e X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 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-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:201898 Archived-At: > From: Michael Heerdegen > Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2016 20:32:25 +0100 > > So, to the question "can I call function X with that many args", the > answer can be "maybe". In that case, the situation is not better than > now. Since you know the answer not before run-time, this doesn't solve > the problem in the bug report, because you still have to write > alternative code for the "maybe" case - every time. > > Don't take me wrong: this patch can be useful, e.g. for generating help > pages. But IMO it isn't useful for coding. On the contrary, I think > advertising `func-arity' to the user with this name will lead to a lot > of erroneous code. I guess you won't be using this, then. And neither will I, frankly, as I never had the need for such a function. But if someone does, I see no reason not to provide it.