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Re: region-active-p
From: |
Miles Bader |
Subject: |
Re: region-active-p |
Date: |
Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:18:52 +0900 |
Richard Stallman <address@hidden> writes:
> > Overrides the command's usual behavior.
>
> Perhaps that's how it's usually used, but to name the predicate based on
> that seems sort of weird.
>
> It is not weird to name a function based on the job you do with it.
It's not very helpful for elisp hackers, however -- to understand what's
going on, they must go and read the source code to the function in
question -- whereas a better name _does_ help them.
If you see:
(if (i-should-jump-p) (jump))
That really tells you nothing about the reasons for jumping (you need to
read i-should-jump-p to find out), whereas:
(if (im-really-depressed-p) (jump))
tells you why in a glance; to find out all the gory details you need to
read more, but until you do that, you still have a good general idea.
The former style can be desirable if the details of should-jump-p in
fact are very complicated (not summarizable by a single phrase) or might
change often though user-customization or whatever. Still, one has to
weigh flexibility against clarity in deciding which style to use.
> The other good names cause practical problems which have already been
> explained.
Well then why not pick _another_ good name which is still helpful to the
code reader? David Kastrup suggested `region-selected-p', which seems
intuitive and helpful in the same way that region-active-p is.
-Miles
--
The automobile has not merely taken over the street, it has dissolved the
living tissue of the city. Its appetite for space is absolutely insatiable;
moving and parked, it devours urban land, leaving the buildings as mere islands
of habitable space in a sea of dangerous and ugly traffic.
[James Marston Fitch, New York Times, 1 May 1960]
- Re: region-active-p, Kim F. Storm, 2007/11/01
- Re: region-active-p, Richard Stallman, 2007/11/01
- Re: region-active-p,
Miles Bader <=
- Re: region-active-p, Richard Stallman, 2007/11/02
- Re: region-active-p, Stefan Monnier, 2007/11/02
- Re: region-active-p, Miles Bader, 2007/11/02
- Re: region-active-p, Richard Stallman, 2007/11/03
- Re: region-active-p, Miles Bader, 2007/11/05
Re: region-active-p, Stephen J. Turnbull, 2007/11/03