Re: Quoting t and nil in docstrings

[Robert Pluim <rpluim@gmail.com>]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@IRO.UMontreal.CA> writes:

>>     Revert "Fix typo in add-hook doc string"
> [...]
>> -This makes the hook buffer-local, and it makes it a member of the
>> +This makes the hook buffer-local, and it makes t a member of the
>
> This is as good an opportunity as any to question our long-standing
> convention that the symbols `nil` and `t` are treated specially in
> docstrings in the sense that we don't surround them with the customary
> `...'.
>
> FWIW, I don't find this exception to be beneficial here, nor in cases
> like:
>
>     `foo' means ...
>     `bar' means ...
>     nil   means ...
>     t     means ...
>
> Or when a sentence starts with "nil" (where the lack of capital letter
> looks like a typo).
>
> I think we could at least change our convention to say that nil and
> t don't have to be quoted rather than to say that they should not
> be quoted.

Aren't you supposed to say @code{t} in texinfo? That seems
inconsistent with not quoting in docstrings.

Robert