RE: typo in frame.el

["Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

Doc strings, at least their first lines, need to be short and clear, so
"iff" is in fact helpful - but only if the convention is understood.

Instead of not taking advantage of the convention, why don't we include an
explanation of it in the general doc: add a line stating what "iff" means to
the Emacs (or Elisp) doc?

At the very worst, someone unacquainted with the meaning of "iff" will
likely interpret it as "if" (and as an benign typo), so there is no harm
done in using it: (the most important) half of its meaning is always
conveyed.

Another possibility is to use "<=>" (and "=>" for "implies"), but I suppose
that assumes some familiarity with symbolic logic or math.

 - Drew

-----Original Message-----
From: emacs-devel-bounces+drew.adams=oracle.com@gnu.org
[mailto:emacs-devel-bounces+drew.adams=oracle.com@gnu.org]On Behalf Of
Alex Schroeder
Sent: Friday, April 09, 2004 11:58 AM
To: Hiroshi Fujishima
Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org
Subject: Re: typo in frame.el


Hiroshi Fujishima <pooh@nature.tsukuba.ac.jp> writes:

> -With a numeric argument, turn blinking cursor mode on iff ARG is
positive.
> +With a numeric argument, turn blinking cursor mode on if ARG is positive.

For mathematicians, "iff" is an abbreviation for "if and only
if"...  So it is not a typo, I suppose.  I think that should avoid the
use of such abbreviations in Emacs documentation, however, since not
all our users come from an English/science background.

Alex.
--
.O.  http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/
..O  Schroeder's fourth law:
OOO  None of your friends and coworkers share your taste in music.



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