From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard M Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Terminology in multi-tty primitives Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:29:09 -0500 Message-ID: References: Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1230485436 5349 80.91.229.12 (28 Dec 2008 17:30:36 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:30:36 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Eli Zaretskii Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Dec 28 18:31:44 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 1LGzUH-0000s4-6x for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 28 Dec 2008 18:31:37 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:51263 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1LGzT3-00073H-PY for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:30:21 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1LGzSt-00070E-8c for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:30:11 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1LGzSs-0006zo-DK for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:30:10 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=34486 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1LGzSs-0006zg-73 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:30:10 -0500 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([140.186.70.10]:49552) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1LGzSr-0002Y4-US for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:30:10 -0500 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.67) (envelope-from ) id 1LGzRt-00066w-Um; Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:29:09 -0500 In-reply-to: (message from Eli Zaretskii on Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:23:27 +0200) 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:107340 Archived-At: . Sometimes we use "tty", as in `suspend-tty' and `make-frame-on-tty', and sometimes "terminal", as in `delete-terminal'. These examples suggest the distinction that `terminal' refers to any kind of terminal (including X), whereas `tty' implies that the function applies only to text terminals. But there's no delete-tty or suspend-terminal. Here's how it appears to me. The function to delete works on any kind of terminal, so its name says "terminal". The function to suspend works only on ttys, so its name says "tty". I am not sure that those facts are accurate, but if they are, the names make sense. So the current usage is consistent. However, we don't have to make this distinction. We could rename `tty' to `terminal' in these function names, and that would also be consistent. . `terminal-name' returns the name of the _terminal_device_, such as "/dev/tty", while a terminal object itself does not really have a name. Perhaps `terminal-device' would be a clearer name for that. . `get-device-terminal' accepts not only a device name (like "/dev/tty" or "foo:0.0"), as its name might suggest, but also a frame or a terminal. It could be called `get-terminal' by analogy with `get-buffer'. . Doc strings of several functions use the term "terminal id", but the functions accept a _terminal_object_, not an ID. Since a terminal has an integer ID associated with it (cf. `get-device-terminal's return value), a user could easily be confused to think that we mean that integer identifier. The term "ID" is misleading here, and should be changed. In the manual I see + Emacs represents each terminal on which it displays frames as a +special @dfn{terminal object} data type, see @ref{Terminal Type}. The +terminal object has a unique integer identifier and the following +attributes: The terminal does have a unique integer identifier, but is this useful to mention here? Do users ever use it? If not, we may as well leave it unmentioned.