From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Michael Heerdegen Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.bugs Subject: bug#34708: alist-get has unclear documentation Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2019 19:10:55 +0100 Message-ID: <87y35xdu4w.fsf@web.de> References: <87wolhr5k6.fsf@web.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Injection-Info: blaine.gmane.org; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:195.159.176.226"; logging-data="250450"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@blaine.gmane.org" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/27.0.50 (gnu/linux) Cc: 34708@debbugs.gnu.org To: "Miguel V. S. Frasson" Original-X-From: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Mar 02 19:12:11 2019 Return-path: Envelope-to: geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by blaine.gmane.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:256) (Exim 4.89) (envelope-from ) id 1h097L-00131L-2k for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sat, 02 Mar 2019 19:12:11 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:57340 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1h097K-0006rj-36 for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sat, 02 Mar 2019 13:12:10 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([209.51.188.92]:49027) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1h097D-0006rO-62 for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 02 Mar 2019 13:12:03 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1h097C-0007uv-Fm for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 02 Mar 2019 13:12:03 -0500 Original-Received: from debbugs.gnu.org ([209.51.188.43]:44306) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1h097C-0007uZ-95 for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 02 Mar 2019 13:12:02 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-debbugs by debbugs.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1h097B-0008Hh-Sp for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 02 Mar 2019 13:12:01 -0500 X-Loop: help-debbugs@gnu.org Resent-From: Michael Heerdegen Original-Sender: "Debbugs-submit" Resent-CC: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Resent-Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2019 18:12:01 +0000 Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: help-debbugs@gnu.org X-GNU-PR-Message: followup 34708 X-GNU-PR-Package: emacs Original-Received: via spool by 34708-submit@debbugs.gnu.org id=B34708.155155026531773 (code B ref 34708); Sat, 02 Mar 2019 18:12:01 +0000 Original-Received: (at 34708) by debbugs.gnu.org; 2 Mar 2019 18:11:05 +0000 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:57850 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1h096H-0008GP-Gp for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Sat, 02 Mar 2019 13:11:05 -0500 Original-Received: from mout.web.de ([212.227.17.12]:39723) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1h096F-0008Ft-Eu for 34708@debbugs.gnu.org; Sat, 02 Mar 2019 13:11:03 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=web.de; s=dbaedf251592; t=1551550256; bh=GQRBN5xXtSKLGEibKoOzTAjlhxR7SwdJgLSlhqa7614=; h=X-UI-Sender-Class:From:To:Cc:Subject:References:Date:In-Reply-To; b=PcpNAm4zQZPDOKIu87Rs4LB/JQGiHmnGrGiZE5h/OM8y/R8Lkklkp8BTj0yvyy36Z y0kOqmWHY/FVThSar3eMzeEvyO5CweBgHMqHOe5+5tzQRxoBbcpesDOzyzuWs9X0UX xhFjKzHy8kcCmnkTYZFk+CnDzV6c7vkl4eLGGDK4= X-UI-Sender-Class: c548c8c5-30a9-4db5-a2e7-cb6cb037b8f9 Original-Received: from drachen.dragon ([88.67.111.211]) by smtp.web.de (mrweb103 [213.165.67.124]) with ESMTPSA (Nemesis) id 0M4ZXs-1hC3qO173E-00yhyk; Sat, 02 Mar 2019 19:10:56 +0100 In-Reply-To: (Miguel V. S. Frasson's message of "Sat, 2 Mar 2019 12:40:57 -0300") X-Provags-ID: V03:K1:Mds/o52vF/mrGdu4OO3stGG3fhEztKCLr88Ijr3qF+ip5MG44oA Flxyh5u5t/BuJDVjAfNUG3GOmLchlPxYsc8hK4FbXtUGkZuSYGAylbFgCQh1olJotoOpxGL orXV1v9Qd+ABF/GIUi82E115TRMZhvjouvMBLLx04Gz30ZuZE3U8zCkmtnNGOT/d91SddKs A7n8qTQYCYyRR8MMidhFw== X-UI-Out-Filterresults: notjunk:1;V03:K0:fziJvnnVotA=:PuUm4untnrNf6JhCVjEmV6 /e9a5ZUVwpjFJRGtZB2hJYpnpCqzyMSghxJKlnibTtKeyZkPaNpWYNFnVvwn4kiCXquz8KrSt eIvw/uzdwbSkWZaafxcWn4v2Mf9X4O4lOHoVM01hW8gVocVluiQau91P8GDfQ4PbER+7T/A6P KZ29iwUbLfvo8Z1tWolO1HkcZYz+G7ykDJZWa/Le5Q73nXCACTKPl9N0gHlgmQXatYxyIFm2S /x/Mr7SujOg6FjIK6b8DlXnhHO43emGLaxIuzCt4wyLxpi9o9KF8K9Jv5zoS5AWtVwkaagcwL 0AmFJSCtNupX7/XmzjfdBfkcDTO9KkFsqkOK+LxD+Yk0FoNDdf2P+Navla5n3g8burnmz0uU+ 10VZaJR8ZgIXaDicFEpKfYYf7cEr5HcjIeRKmJnZD6V2/w/nkIVIvWjoJVHT8LhNh+UBniyam HqT7+uWvT2ho2mpZ6RmgxXbfvmmxqlkhWAN7zI7jn/Xo1QT7FgP0/1FP8AFTapKuTeCIVBH6Z 9Jg+uKfH4t+yjjaUBCjzvOilvdi7Fr/h7/mKlRS+qrcUv6qNT1VxNZ9pKKaJMh1VpFuN5eQOR EvJp/Yd5Vn4k5lHN7wl1ZE6lCENiKihJ+2bRkmGR3//lHS8mP7783vUEJ52KbA+9EcSbO2ani eU5jDrUtXfYKdFOcrmQGNtkG+KDBJOdNHQm3T1F1BErOrl3UVxZ6dQV0JY8gP6fDLJmVVCqG9 YYDR9XJRF2uUtMXE0ukLgSPAs+omLF2Q5sS9I4vdjVhp4439IVf2vBXbCX7x7rwxEaX93HrN X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-Received-From: 209.51.188.43 X-BeenThere: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org List-Id: "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "bug-gnu-emacs" Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.bugs:155968 Archived-At: "Miguel V. S. Frasson" writes: > I can't imagine how to *set* anything with alist-get. It seams to me > that it just use the value of ALIST for look up, so talk about > generalized variables is meaningless to me here. You use it like this: say variable V is bound to an alist, then you can do (setf (alist-get key V) value). After that, (alist-get key V) will evaluate to VALUE, so you have "set" that place. In the general case, V can also be a generalized variable, e.g. (car SOMETHING-ELSE). To replace the word "this" with something better is not so easy. We could write "The name of this function can be used to build expressions that can be used as a generalized variable", but I doubt it will make things clearer for somebody not familiar with the concept of generalized variables. Using this function name to build place expressions is not different from using other function names that allow to be used for generalized variables. I would rather go with an example, which I think is justified because using this function name in place expressions is the canonical way to modify alists and people need to use it (there is no `alist-put') no matter if they are familiar with generalized variables. Michael.