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bug#24014: 24.5; doc string of `cl-reduce'
From: |
Michael Heerdegen |
Subject: |
bug#24014: 24.5; doc string of `cl-reduce' |
Date: |
Sun, 17 Jul 2016 17:57:14 +0200 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/25.0.95 (gnu/linux) |
Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:
> Please state in the doc string what the function does. IOW,
> explain/describe/specify what "reduce" means. Do not suppose that Emacs
> Lisp users are all familiar with functional programming etc.
>
> If _you_ understand it, you should be able to describe it in a couple of
> sentences. It's not a complicated thing, but just repeating the word
> "reduce" from the function name is not sufficient - not helpful.
I also find the explanation in the manual confusing:
"This function combines the elements of SEQ using an associative
binary operation."
The function does _not_ need to be associative. The sentence later:
"If ‘:from-end’ is true, the reduction is right-associative instead
of left-associative."
makes sense, of course, but above, the word "associative" does not mean
more than "any", and without reading the later text, it can easily be
misunderstood.
Michael.