Re: Predefined macros, was: lilypond ./ChangeLog Documentation/user/notatio...

[Graham Percival]

On 24-Aug-04, at 3:54 AM, Mats Bengtsson wrote:
> I think the main problem is not the work to enter the code, but rather
> the work to find out how to do it. I think the shortcuts help both
> for newcomers who haven't yet learned how to set properties, somewhat
> experienced people who still have problems to always find the relevant
> grob, property and value and oldboys like me who know where to look
> for all the relevant information but find it easier to remember the
> names of the shortcuts than the exact name of every grob and property.

I definitely agree with this.  The shortcuts also increase readability
and look much friendlier.  If I were browsing around Mutopia or other
Lilypond examples, I'd much rather see
\tieUp
than
\override Tie #'direction = #1    (or should that be -1 ?)


On a vaguely related note, can you do
\once \tieUp

(I just tried it and it didn't work, but maybe there was some extra 
syntax
I missed)

If not, this feature would be very useful.


> > The decision isn't final, but I would like to phase out the shortcuts
> > in ly/property-init.ly gradually, replacing them with more generic
> > mechanisms.
>
> If you definitely don't want to pollute the global name space with
> predefined macros,

Would it be possible to have separate include file for these easier
macros?  (like we used to do with "paper16" )

\include "nice-macros.ly"
\score{ \relative c'{
\tieUp
c4 ~ c4
}}

In addition, how much pollution does \slurUp and whatnot cause?  I mean,
we don't want to use "slurUp" to refer to anything else, do we?


Cheers,
- Graham