Re: Make \relative { ... } interpret the first pitch as an absolute one (issue 7546044)

[dak]

On 2013/03/07 05:58:46, Keith wrote:
> In order from reasonable to ridiculous,

Actually, you'll find me in almost full agreement.

> Converting
>   \relative{g b d}  -> \relative c' {g b d}
> is reasonable,

Yes and no.  If the meaning of \relative { ... } remains unchanged,
this conversion is gratuitous.  It should not be in convert-ly, but we
should still apply it to the LilyPond tree to get our own
documentation consistent.

>   \relative{sol ti re}  -> \relative $(ly:make-pitch 0 0) {sold ti re}
> mildly annoying.

If the meaning of \relative { ... } remains unchanged, this conversion
is both gratuitous and ugly.  If the meaning changes, this conversion
is necessary and ugly.  Finding the right name for c'/do'... can
probably be done right with more complex heuristics in more cases.  Or
we just stipulate that every notename language knows c.

> Changing the default starting pitch of \relative down a fifth will
> annoy maybe 20 people who use \relative by habit, make maybe 5
> people happy.

Existing users: possibly.

> Converting
>   <<\relative c'{f a c} // \relative c'{c a f}>>
> to <<\relative c'{f a c} // \relative {c' a f}>>
> creates a mess.

It's a good start :)

If \relative c' { c } gets converted to \relative { c' } while
\relative c' { f } stays like it is: this is certainly a mess.  This
conversion covers about 40% of \relative uses in our
code/documentation base.  Being aware of the whole notename system
rather than just c would cover more and get more consistency.  I'll
prepare such a patch in a few hours and see how much coverage it
reaches.

The whole point of the exercise is to be able to give a satisfactorily
preferable choice to the question "which arbitrary pitch should we be
using for \relative by default".  And changing \relative behavior just
for the mentioned 20/5 people would be somewhat pointless.

Whether we go through with it is a different question.  Not everything
that would have been a good idea to start with is worth a large
change.  But it's nice getting a perspective of the possibility.


https://codereview.appspot.com/7546044/