RE: customize-set-(value|variable) [was: apropos commands forcommands, user options, all functions, all variables]

[Drew Adams]

>        1. Rename `customize-set-value' to `set-option', and
>        `customize-set-variable' to `set-option-default' ...
>
>    We don't currently suggest to users that they use those commands,
>    so making them easier to use does not seem like an important goal.
>
> As a rule, no one ever should use the customize commands unless they
> are a novice or unless they do not understand a feature like fonts.
> They are to help, not to replace `setq'.
>
> The reason is that the customize commands provide even less an
> increment of knowledge than `setq' because they are so readily
> interactive and do not require additional knowledge.  In a .emacs
> file, you must read the documentation on a variable although that
> often tells little.  I fear that I still do not understand fonts
> because my interactions with them has been through customize ...


I don't know what to say, except that I disagree 100%.

An interactive function that provides completion and a degree of type
checking is much, much handier than using `setq' with `M-:'.

"As a rule, no one ever should use" rules like the one you propose, IMO.