From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Stephen J. Turnbull" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: files.el: Patch to make project-settings optional/customizable Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:14:24 +0900 Message-ID: <87r651kgzj.fsf@xemacs.org> References: <5f0ff9220811130629t505badf9kb1bcc380df89a08f@mail.gmail.com> <87ej13h73g.fsf@jurta.org> <200811222020.mAMKKBcY020496@mothra.ics.uci.edu> <87zljrm7yh.fsf@catnip.gol.com> <200811230810.mAN8A6fp022636@mothra.ics.uci.edu> <87ljvayb18.fsf@jurta.org> <200811231210.mANCAEv7023193@mothra.ics.uci.edu> <200811231716.mANHGBbj023513@mothra.ics.uci.edu> <200811232121.mANLLDaU023870@mothra.ics.uci.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1227495921 23631 80.91.229.12 (24 Nov 2008 03:05:21 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:05:21 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Juri Linkov , Juanma Barranquero , Tom Tromey , "T.V. Raman" , emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Dan Nicolaescu Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Nov 24 04:06:25 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1L4RmB-0002xJ-Sg for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:06:16 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:45239 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1L4Rl2-0002Be-EH for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:05:04 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1L4Rky-0002BZ-H0 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:05:00 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1L4Rkx-0002BE-1x for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:05:00 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=36381 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1L4Rkw-0002BB-R2 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:04:58 -0500 Original-Received: from mtps02.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp ([130.158.97.224]:32871) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1L4QuT-0006el-Pc for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:10:47 -0500 Original-Received: from uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp (uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp [130.158.99.156]) by mtps02.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9E75F820F; Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:10:42 +0900 (JST) Original-Received: by uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp (Postfix, from userid 1000) id D71551A2D03; Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:14:24 +0900 (JST) In-Reply-To: <200811232121.mANLLDaU023870@mothra.ics.uci.edu> X-Mailer: VM 8.0.12-devo-585 under 21.5 (beta28) "fuki" 83e35df20028+ XEmacs Lucid (x86_64-unknown-linux) X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6, seldom 2.4 (older, 4) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:106051 Archived-At: Dan Nicolaescu writes: > Brittle is to allow the user to break something just by using a normal > way of changing settings "setq". We have gone over this too many times > already... Agreed, making a defconst is not childproof (which seems to be the goal of several senior developers these days). But I thought Emacs Lisp was a language used by adults? You expect adults to read the documentation and take responsibility for what they do. I really don't see a problem with using a defconst here. BTW, "brittle" doesn't mean that it breaks when the user uses normal features of Lisp to intentionally do something inadvisable. "Brittle" means it breaks *accidentally* in the normal process of programming. Making this a defconst is the opposite of brittle: it is just good programming practice, as it allows the byte compiler to check for typos etc. and warn about attempts to set or bind the variable. You can't do that with a string. (Well, you *could*, but then it would be a symbol, wouldn't it?)