Re: [External] : A peek to the other side

[Stefan Monnier via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>]

>> If you didn't you don't know how lucky you are with the integrated
>> Elisp manual. It doesn't have an integrated manual, you have to browse
>> a huge HTML file to find some API call...
> The built-in help and thorough-going introspection of
> Emacs and Elisp are in fact outgrowths from Lisp and
> the Lisp community.  Lisp has had this strength from
> the outset.

I don't know about the various forms of introspection, but at AFAIK
(none of this is 100% sure, sadly) in the specific case of docstrings,
this comes from TECO and I believe it was added to TECO by Richard while
working on the TECO version of Emacs.

> And RMS has always had a strong will to keep Emacs open and
> self-aware/self-documenting.  "Doc", in multiple senses, has always
> been important to Emacs.

While the GPL doesn't say anything about it, it's clear that's an
important part of empowering users, so it's closely linked to the ideals
of Free Software.

[ In a sense, the source code of a program is a kind of documentation of
  the corresponding assembly generated by the compiler.  ]

> Unfortunately, there's been more of a tendency in
> recent years to "name-claim" more things to be
> "internal", as if that somehow protected something or
> someone (Emacs development/developers? Elisp users?).

Note the strong difference between the "--" naming convention to
announce a function/var is internal, with the use of strong language
abstraction to make internal inaccessible.

Emacs is not in the business of preventing users from shooting
themselves in the foot, but we do try to make it easier for the users
not to shoot themselves in the foot, which is why we like to document
with "--" when a function is intended to be internal.


        Stefan