Re: Template: String Quartet (score-only), first draft

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi Graham,

> The rest of the docs place the { or << on the same line:
> \header {
> Please do the same here.

I will, but I officially file a protest: I find it *much* harder to  
visually match delimiters (braces, brackets, etc.) with that  
convention, just as I find it harder in Java code (where they use the  
same Mao-ing convention).

> I very rarely include s1*4 \bar "|." in my global variable --
> is this good practice?

1. Why wouldn't it be?

2. If the \bar command — or any command, for that matter — is in  
literally every note variable (as it is in the existing templates),  
doesn't it scream "I'm a global value!"? What if you need to change it?

> Why manually number the bars?

I'll give you my most recent opera score WITH MY CODE BAR NUMBERS  
REMOVED, and then ask you to add a cautionary accidental to the first  
quarter note in m. 413 of the violin music...  ;-)

> I definitely like the explicit bar checks, though.  :)

Excellent.

> ... and people ask me why I stopped playing cello after 21 years
> of study and am learning violin... :(

You should try *my* cello parts!  :-p

> Interesting!  I hadn't realized that you could set up  
> instrumentName like this!

1. This is my preferred method, at least for pieces where the player  
never changes instruments.
[n.b. I'm still working on the best instrument-switching methodology...]

2. Good to see that templates are capable of teaching even the most  
jaded — I mean "experienced" — Lilyponders!  ;-)

> - is it worth including instr or shortName or whatever that
>   command is called these days?

Maybe!

> - how do you feel about adding a newline after the \with { ?
>   Again, that's the style of the rest of the docs.

I think code should always aim for the sweet spot of  
comprehensibility and terseness, in that order — we can debate  
various options, and come to a collective agreement.

> - manual style calls for comments to be placed on the line above:
>        %% uncomment this line to enable MIDI output
>        % \midi{}

1. So you uncomment the comment to enable MIDI output?  ;-)
2. I'm not a fan of adding code lines unnecessarily.

> - manual style uses two-space indents.

OK.

> The actual material looks good;
> I'm happy to withdraw my objection to "real music".

I knew I could convince you!  =)

Thanks for the input,
Kieren.