Re: [RFC] Standardized code block keywords

[Eric Schulte <schulte.eric@gmail.com>]

tsd@tsdye.com (Thomas S. Dye) writes:

> Eric Schulte <schulte.eric@gmail.com> writes:
>
>>> [1] I have the same "annoying" feelings with #+SOURCE, #+SRCNAME, #+FUNCTION,
>>> #+CALL, #+LOB, and SBE, some of which are interchangeable; some
>>> not. I'd prefer
>>> deprecating an old form when a better one is found.
>>
>> This point of view has been raised previously both on the mailing list
>> and in the #org-mode IRC chat room.  I think it is time that we decided
>> as a community what we want to do about the prevalence of code block
>> synonyms -- we should make this decision before the release of Emacs24
>> after which syntax will become harder to change.
>>
>> There are currently a number of instances of synonymous keywords when
>> dealing with code blocks, specifically.
>>
>>          named code blocks [1] -- "source" "srcname" "function"
>> calling external functions [2] -- "call" "lob"
>>                 named data [3] -- "tblname" "resname" "results" "data"
>>
>> Ideally if we limit each of the above to only one alternative we could
>> simplify the specification of code blocks in Org-mode making them easier
>> to learn and use and removing some of the mystery around their syntax.
>>
>> What does everyone think?
>>
>> Are there suggestions for the best names for each code block entity
>> (either in the list or not in the list)?
>>
>> Are there cases where we want to continue to allow synonyms (e.g., in
>> named data so that "results" can be used for code block results but
>> "data" can be used for hand-written data)?
>>
>> Thanks -- Eric
>>
>> Footnotes: 
>> [1] named code blocks
>>
>>     #+source: foo
>>     #+begin_src emacs-lisp
>>       'foo
>>     #+end_src
>>
>>     #+srcname: foo
>>     #+begin_src emacs-lisp
>>       'foo
>>     #+end_src
>>
>>     #+function: foo
>>     #+begin_src emacs-lisp
>>       'foo
>>     #+end_src
>>
>> [2]  calling external functions
>>
>>     #+call: foo()
>>
>>     #+lob: foo()
>>
>> [3]  named data
>>
>>     #+data: something
>>     : something
>>     #+results: something
>>     : something
>>
>>     etc...
>
> Hi Eric,
>
> named code blocks [1] "source"
> calling external functions [2] "call"
> named data [3] "object"
>

Noted, thanks, your choices for 1 and 2 are my favorite as well.

>
> My motivation for [3] "object" instead of the suggested alternates is
> the hope that it will be possible to name things like lists and
> paragraphs (that aren't results or data) and pass these objects to
> source code blocks.
>

I would say that I would consider paragraphs and lists to be "data" as
well, but I think object is a fine alternative.  Also, lists are already
a supported data type.

#+data: something
- 1
- 2
- 3

#+begin_src emacs-lisp :var it=something :results list
  (reverse it)
#+end_src

#+results:
- 3
- 2
- 1

Thanks for sharing -- Eric

>
> All the best,
> Tom

-- 
Eric Schulte
http://cs.unm.edu/~eschulte/