I'd like to help and solve <> misunderstanding - if i can...

[Janek Warchoł]

Hi,

Of course i'm not in a position to instruct you; i'd just like to
share my thoughts.

I think some of you take this discussion too personally and i'm afraid
that this can result (already resulted?) in a serious conflict :(
David found something interesting and i guess that he was pretty
enthusiastic about sharing his discovery with us.
Some people share his view on the /technical aspect/ of the issue
(i.e. that <> fits internal LilyPond structures well), and they think
that because of technical advantages David's discovery should be used
and encouraged.
Meanwhile other people expressed their concerns about how it looks
like, the /syntax/ (user interface, not technical details).
>From what i see, this is the problem: some of you argue about two
different things, treating them as if they were one issue.
I suppose that the people who support <> are disappointed because from
their point of view it may *look like* others are denying the
technical benefits of using <>.
On the other hand, those who don't like <> are disappointed because it
*seems* that their concerns are ignored.
Everyone loses :(
Please, consider rethinking this situation.
I can say that some time ago in a discussion i had expressed some
concerns about user-friendliness of a piece of code.  Later i realized
that there was a serious misunderstanding on my side.  Eventually the
code i initially criticized was turned into a very useful patch, which
made using Lily noticeably easier.

On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 9:54 PM, James <address@hidden> wrote:
> If this were some obscure change that 'most' LP users didn't use - '#{
> ... #}' seemed to get everyone really excited for instance, I just
> shrugged, I've never used it, don't even know why I would or if I
> could or when I shoul. Or maybe I have but didn't know it?

If i understand correctly, everyone uses Scheme functions all the
time: when you \transpose, you use a Scheme function.  \relative is
also a Scheme function.  There is lots of Scheme wrapped nicely in
commands starting with backslashes.
When the #{ ... #} change was made, i didn't see any change in my Lily
workflow, too.  I still don't know what exactly that change meant (i'd
like to learn this some day, though).  But i know that it makes things
simpler for other developers, and it will allow them to design better
LilyPond.  We will all benefit - indirectly.

best,
Janek