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

[dak]

On 2013/03/07 07:19:01, janek wrote:
> Hi,

> i like the idea of \relative interpreting the first pitch "in
absolute" if
> there's no explicit reference pitch.
> However, i don't think we should promote this way of doing things:
it's a
> shorthand, and with LilyPond it's usually better to be explicit.

I disagree with the notion of a "shorthand" since it is not
_conceptually_ related to \relative f.  f is just the middle of the
standard scale by accident, and I made sure that the code works as
claimed even for non-standard scales.

We had a lot of discussions (and changes) about what pitch to use for
\relative if the first pitch in the music is going to be x'''.

And if the question is what actually _arbitrary_ base to pick in order
to arrive at x''' for the first real note, it is clear that we are
actually trying to find a solution for a self-inflicted problem.

If we want the first pitch to be x''', then the first pitch should be
x''' (and not c' and not f and not x) and not be in need of repeating
as x or x'' or x''' again.

It is _shorter_, but not a shorthand since it does not actually
replace any particular use of \relative.

> So, +1 for changing the behaviour of \relative, but -1 for using
> this everywhere in docs.

Shrug.  We have a "policy" about what \relative to use, this policy
changed over the time and it has not been applied consistently,
either.

I agree with Keith that using this for 40% of all cases in the docs
does not make an overwhelming amount of sense.

I am not convinced about the 100% case being bad, though.


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