From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Michael Heerdegen via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Trying to find the status of auto-fill-mode in a buffer Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2024 20:14:09 +0100 Message-ID: <87ikshk9a6.fsf@web.de> References: <20241119084323.5e3eaeb0@enoush2o> <86jzczbm0l.fsf@aarsen.me> <20241119114909.5cb99396@enoush2o> <87o72b3yzi.fsf@web.de> <87a5duxrrg.fsf@gmail.com> <87ttc1ki0a.fsf@web.de> <871pz5yjaj.fsf@gmail.com> Reply-To: Michael Heerdegen 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="30653"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Cancel-Lock: sha1:xOH/25KpekV1aewBEoFgnGi7/EI= Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Wed Nov 20 20:13:57 2024 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 1tDq9F-0007tN-0d for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; Wed, 20 Nov 2024 20:13:57 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1tDq8d-0006Dk-Pj; Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:13:20 -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 1tDq8Z-0006Bc-1h for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:13:16 -0500 Original-Received: from ciao.gmane.io ([116.202.254.214]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1tDq8X-0004uu-M5 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:13:14 -0500 Original-Received: from list by ciao.gmane.io with local (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1tDq8T-0007Bt-TI for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 20 Nov 2024 20:13:09 +0100 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Received-SPF: pass client-ip=116.202.254.214; envelope-from=geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; helo=ciao.gmane.io X-Spam_score_int: -15 X-Spam_score: -1.6 X-Spam_bar: - X-Spam_report: (-1.6 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, FREEMAIL_FORGED_FROMDOMAIN=0.001, FREEMAIL_FROM=0.001, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS=0.249, RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_RPBL_BLOCKED=0.001, RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_SAFE_BLOCKED=0.001, SPF_HELO_NONE=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:148358 Archived-At: Robert Pluim writes: > I just meant that someone starting out with Emacs is unlikely to > understand what is meant by it (unless theyʼre already versed in > lisp). So 'value' is probably best, but if we change the text to say > "look at the value of the variable auto-fill-function", we will then > get "How do I do that?" :-) (and not everyone realises you can click > on the variable name or press RET on it) I see it a bit differently: the current wording in this case uses an artificial, unnatural language, like "to find out how many people came to the party, evaluate `3'". That's also why it's unnecessarily confusing. "Value" is something I would avoid, especially in this context where buffer local bindings are involved. "Binding of VAR" is a wording we use all over the place, for example in the manual. One can could look it up. To understand what is going on one has to be a bit familiar with the basic concepts (like buffer local bindings) anyway, so I see no reason not to use the language associated with these concepts. And this sentence is not there to answer all questions. We just should avoid directing people in a wrong direction. Michael.