Re: Issue #768 - chord repetition shortcut: patch for review

[Carl Sorensen]

On 11/13/09 5:27 AM, "David Kastrup" <address@hidden> wrote:

> Marc Hohl <address@hidden> writes:
> 
>> David Kastrup schrieb:
>>> [...]
>>> But *4 is _logical_.  You can guess what it does without looking it up
>>> in the manual.
>>>  
>> No. Since it looks like a multiplication, it treats the number, not
>> the notes (at least for me). So < c e g>4*4 could be interpreted as
>> < c e g >16, which is not what we want.
> 
> So you think one should prohibit R1*8 since people might confuse it with
> R8?

No, R1*8 already has a meaning.  And it's not a repeat, it's a time
multiplier.

<c e g>4*4 is a <c e g> chord with 1/4 note heads/stem that takes up the
space (in timing) of a whole note <c e g> chord.

The way to get { <c e g>8-. <c e g>-^ } repeated is

\repeat unfold 2 { <c e g>8-. <c e g>-^ }

The suggestion to change from \repeat unfold n {music} to
{music}*n is an argument that should be delayed for the GLISS.  Please bring
it back up then, if you still want to.  But I don't think you'll have very
much support.  As has been pointed out earlier, * is an operator that
operates on durations, not on repeat counts.  And LilyPond is consistent
in that regard.  The change you have requested is a fundamental change in
the meaning of an existing operator.  That's a tough sell.

Thanks,

Carl