From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Andrea Crotti Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Add-to-list or setq append... Date: Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:37:03 +0200 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1280875068 11196 80.91.229.12 (3 Aug 2010 22:37:48 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2010 22:37:48 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Aug 04 00:37:47 2010 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OgQ7G-00011d-GN for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:37:46 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:41100 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1OgQ7F-00033M-TS for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:37:45 -0400 Original-Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=44712 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1OgQ6n-0002yx-5F for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:37:18 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OgQ6m-0001Jg-1V for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:37:17 -0400 Original-Received: from lo.gmane.org ([80.91.229.12]:45715) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OgQ6l-0001JD-SU for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:37:16 -0400 Original-Received: from list by lo.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OgQ6i-0000mp-RL for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:37:12 +0200 Original-Received: from xdsl-89-0-32-170.netcologne.de ([89.0.32.170]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:37:12 +0200 Original-Received: from andrea.crotti.0 by xdsl-89-0-32-170.netcologne.de with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:37:12 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Original-Lines: 15 Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: xdsl-89-0-32-170.netcologne.de User-Agent: Gnus/5.110011 (No Gnus v0.11) Emacs/23.2 (darwin) Cancel-Lock: sha1:9js0ypWbatOfm8S8Orn2pc/wf9U= X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:74411 Archived-At: Just a curiosity, I was wondering why in so many README and doc they suggest to add elements to lists with something like: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- (setq list (append list element)) --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- instead of doing simply --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- (add-to-list list-va element) --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Is there any good reason or is just historical heritage? I think add-to-list is even more smart adding only if not there already, then what's the point in using that ugly form?