Hi Rudolf,

as to your question when to use an inline src block:

I use it particularly in documents that present results from data sets. For instance, when you
calculate something (e.g., an average value), you can store it in a variable =foo= (e.g., in R,
python etc., just make sure you use the :session parameter) and access =foo= in an inline source
block (that uses the same :session parameter). This allows you to avoid having hardcoded numbers in
your documents - when the data changes, so do all the numbers in your text.

As to the naming: begin_src also uses underscores, so I guess the naming scheme is fine...

Hope this helps!

Best regards
Christian

On Sun, 2022-07-03 at 21:11 +0200, Rudolf Adamkovič wrote:
> Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > […]  By default, unlike ordinary src blocks, inline src blocks are
> > only exported as results - code is not exported, only the result is
> > exported.  […]  Further, because Org is not always able to evaluate
> > src blocks (when the relevant ob-*.el is not loaded), inline src
> > blocks can sometimes be exported as code.
> 
> Dear Ihor,
> 
> Thank you for taking the time with your reply.
> 
> Oh, my!  I expected the exact opposite default for *inline* source,
> namely show code and hide results.  But then, I noticed that these
> "inline" elements do not work in tables, so I cannot use them to
> syntax-highlight a table of LaTeX commands anyway.  Bummer!
> 
> So then, when should we use these "inline blocks" in Org?  I expected
> them to provide inline (nicely rendered) code anywhere, including in the
> tables, like LaTeX provides in-line (nicely rendered) math everywhere.
> 
> (I also keep wondering why the feature uses a "special" syntax with
> underscores when everything else in Org uses dashes.)
> 
> P.S. I also experimented with the src_shell some more:
> 
> With #+PROPERTY: header-args+ :exports both, src_shell{ls} exports as
> "ls".  I did not expect that.  Note that I executed a normal BEGIN_SRC
> "shell" block seconds before, so Emacs must have loaded the relevant
> Lisp code.  I then started 'emacs -Q' and tried again.  This time,Org
> exported 'src' followed by a subscript 'shell'.
> 
> Completely and utterly confused,
> 
> Rudy