Re: how to speed up Lisp devel time

[Yuri Khan <yuri.v.khan@gmail.com>]

On Fri, 9 Aug 2024 at 23:09, Emanuel Berg <incal@dataswamp.org> wrote:

> But actually it should be like this for interactive use:
>
> - With M-x: Prompt string for all three variables using their
>   default values as suggestions.
>
>   It should prompt again for each variable if it fails its
>   validation until it is OK. Whenever failing it should say
>   for example "end must be: (<= 0 end)" so the user knows what
>   went wrong.

If your command has three arguments, asking for them in succession
with validation and re-asking is the wrong UI/UX.

* A user may want to see the values entered for the first N arguments
when typing the (N+1)th.
* A user may want to fix a typo in the Nth argument when typing the (N+1)th.
* A user may want to recall the whole set of arguments from the
history, and optionally modify one or more of them.
* A user may want to switch to a different window or frame while
composing one of the arguments.

Interactive interface for more than one argument must be explicitly
designed. Asking for a more defaulting, more validating sequential
‘read-*’ is like asking Henry Ford for a faster horse.