Re: Abbreviations

[Werner LEMBERG]

> Don't do it. Redefining standard commands just to save typing is a
> terrible idea.

It depends.  Especially \tuplet is awfully long, and it makes scores
with a lot of triplets extremely hard to read.

> Apropos outsmarting tools: with LilyPond source code in particular,
> you risk doing that to convert-ly, which works with textual
> substitutions.  For example, I am thinking of the relatively recent
> \times -> \tuplet transition: while your code would not have broken
> with a redefinition as above in place, you would have cut the way to
> getting updated to more modern syntax.

This is avoidable.  If you write

  T = #(define-music-function (parser location music) (ly:music?)
        #{ \tuplet 3/2 $music #} )   

convert-ly will handle it for you, too.

> To save typing, I suggest using the capabilities of your editor.
> Many of those allow to define keyboard shortcuts or provide other
> mechanisms for inserting commonly used pieces of text conveniently.
> If nothing else is available, you can still enter a short
> placeholder string while typing and then use search-and-replace
> before you compile.

There's still the legibility issue, which I consider more important.
However, I know that many people think differently :-)


    Werner