From: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
Cc: larsi@gnus.org, rms@gnu.org, 46627@debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command'
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2021 11:01:11 -0600 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <CADwFkmm8dBbh9-kuaT_7H7bjNB6nb+U-v1-5M2=_XU0thhCfmw@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <83k0r1xwyy.fsf@gnu.org>
Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>> I can't claim that it is the most effective technique in general.
>> I would use it when I am certain that I almost know the name of a
>> command -- I would know it if I see it. In such situations, firing up
>> apropos is an extra step and not what I want.
>
> Can you explain how apropos is an extra step, compared to TAB
> completion followed by browsing through the candidates? I see no
> extra step here.
So I type `C-h a foobar RET'.
Now I realize I want to look for "foobaz", so `C-h a foobaz RET'.
Now I realize that oops, I meant "barsnaz", etc.
Typing this at a prompt is often faster for me. In particular, I don't
need to rewrite everything for minor changes.
Yes, I can be smarter and say `C-h a M-p DEL z RET', but I think we can
agree that `DEL z TAB' is less typing. (BTW, with many completion
frameworks you don't even need the TAB.)
Plus I often look only for names, and don't need to waste screen real
estate on documentation (which I would using apropos).
> "C-h a" accomplishes that. It is no accident that it's the very first
> Help command mentioned in the user manual. In addition, "C-h a" is
> more powerful, as it accepts regular expressions and lists of
> keywords, whereas completion has only crude and less powerful
> approximations of those.
Many popular completion frameworks have regexps, lists, fuzzy search,
etc. But yes, our default one does not.
>> (BTW, in the completion framework I often use, `ivy', there is a command
>> to run the action associated with the minibuffer without leaving the
>> minibuffer. That is, I run `C-h f', type in some text to complete on,
>> and then hit `C-M-n' to repeatedly see the full documentation for a
>> number of commands.
>
> You can likewise type "C-h a", then, with point on the command you
> were after, type "M-x <DOWN> RET" or "M-x M-n RET" to invoke that
> command. So the task of finding a command and then quickly invoking
> it already has a well-developed solution in Emacs, one that is more
> powerful than completion.
Sure, you can do that. It is in my view often slower (and more typing)
than the workflow I described, but of course that also depends on the
circumstances.
I don't see that we need to agree about the relative efficiency of these
workflows. We can and do support both workflows well.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2021-02-21 17:01 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 86+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2021-02-19 1:06 bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command' Stefan Kangas
2021-02-19 8:42 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-19 17:42 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-19 18:38 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-20 3:25 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 4:25 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-20 8:20 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 7:44 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-19 20:05 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 4:10 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 8:18 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 17:10 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 13:08 ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-22 15:58 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-04-28 13:58 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-04-28 14:17 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-05-02 13:14 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 12:56 ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-20 12:59 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 16:16 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 14:04 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 16:06 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-20 16:09 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 20:06 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-20 20:17 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 20:54 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-20 16:39 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 16:49 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 20:35 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-20 20:46 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 21:16 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21 15:07 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 17:55 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21 18:11 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 18:30 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-26 21:34 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-27 8:04 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-27 17:46 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21 6:19 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 7:18 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 15:27 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 16:39 ` Howard Melman
2021-02-21 18:01 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-21 17:01 ` Stefan Kangas [this message]
2021-02-21 17:36 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 18:02 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 18:21 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 19:57 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-02-21 20:13 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 23:46 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-02-22 15:18 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-27 20:38 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-02-28 17:27 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-28 21:40 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-01 6:05 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-02 1:40 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-02 5:31 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-02 12:55 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-02 13:47 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 17:57 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-21 17:33 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21 13:06 ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-21 6:27 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 6:10 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 6:27 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-19 13:12 ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-19 18:27 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-19 18:43 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 6:18 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 6:27 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-20 6:56 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-20 7:14 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 6:19 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 6:27 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21 7:17 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-22 6:23 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-24 3:28 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-27 18:58 ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-01 5:18 ` Richard Stallman
2021-03-01 16:13 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-03-02 6:29 ` Richard Stallman
2021-03-02 6:50 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-03 5:55 ` Richard Stallman
2021-03-03 15:26 ` Drew Adams
2021-03-03 16:14 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-02 16:52 ` Drew Adams
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