From: Carsten Dominik <drostekirsten@gmail.com>
To: Nicolas Goaziou <n.goaziou@gmail.com>
Cc: Org Mode List <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>
Subject: Re: [RFC] Change some defcustoms into defcont
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 09:50:49 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <F065764D-22ED-458F-8867-222FAC316881@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <874n8avenk.fsf@gmail.com>
Dear Nicolas,
On Oct 21, 2013, at 5:15 PM, Nicolas Goaziou <n.goaziou@gmail.com> wrote:
> Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> The documentation of defconst says:
>>
>>> Define SYMBOL as a constant variable.
>>> This declares that neither programs nor users should ever change the
>>> value. This constancy is not actually enforced by Emacs Lisp, but
>>> SYMBOL is marked as a special variable so that it is never lexically
>>> bound.
>>
>> So it is pretty clear about the intent of such a definition, which is
>> to never change it - even though it does not enforce it.
>
> I must have been clear as mud, because that's exactly what I'm
> suggesting since the beginning of this thread: set "DEADLINE" and al. in
> stone, and never change them again.
You also said things like
> That's exactly the point of the defconst: you can still modify the
> variable, but it sends a strong message to the user. Also, it's not
> about deprecation: code base should still rely on these variables.
so maybe I picked one interpretation over the other.
>
> I have been pointing out, though, that it would not break previous
> changes if they were done with `setq', according to how defconst are
> handled. But I never intended to make it a feature, nor did I suggest
> that was desirable.
>
>> As you have said, we still want to allow users in principle to change
>> these variables.
>
> No, I haven't said such a thing. I said, verbatim, "In principle, they
> mustn't be changed", which means quite the contrary.
>
>> They have been defcustoms in the past, some people will have changed
>> them. Their setup will break when they switch to a new version.
>
> Indeed. But that's easy to fix programmatically.
>
>> That is why I object to changing their status. I think it causes
>> unnecessary breakage, and we can prevent this by keeping them
>> defcustom. Nothing is really gained by changing their status.
>
> It fixes at least a bug, prevents headaches by simplifying maintenance,
> makes Org syntax more portable and more cache friendly. I wouldn't call
> that "nothing".
Yes, sorry. By "nothing" I mean nothing we cannot achieve with documentation
and a :set method. Since we will still rely on the variables, the advantage for
maintenance is something I do not see. Cache friendliness I see, but I would think
that if someone changes these variables, they will not keep changing them.
>
> Anyway, I have well understood that you don't want to change their
> status. So be it.
OK, thank you.
Regards
- Carsten
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2013-10-22 7:51 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 19+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2013-10-20 8:47 [RFC] Change some defcustoms into defcont Nicolas Goaziou
2013-10-20 18:23 ` Carsten Dominik
2013-10-21 8:56 ` Nicolas Goaziou
2013-10-21 10:26 ` Carsten Dominik
2013-10-21 10:51 ` Nicolas Goaziou
2013-10-21 11:56 ` Carsten Dominik
2013-10-21 15:15 ` Nicolas Goaziou
2013-10-22 7:50 ` Carsten Dominik [this message]
2013-10-22 9:52 ` Nicolas Goaziou
2013-10-22 10:34 ` Carsten Dominik
2013-10-22 18:28 ` Torsten Wagner
2013-10-22 20:00 ` Florian Beck
2013-10-23 8:56 ` Nicolas Goaziou
2013-10-23 13:25 ` Carsten Dominik
2013-10-29 14:04 ` Nicolas Goaziou
2013-10-29 14:11 ` Nicolas Goaziou
2013-11-16 20:25 ` Nicolas Goaziou
2013-11-16 23:55 ` Carsten Dominik
2013-10-21 8:17 ` Sebastien Vauban
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