bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command'

[Stefan Kangas]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> There seems to be little difference between the proposed
> describe-command command and the existing describe-function command.
> Whatever the former could do, the latter already does.
>
> Am I missing something?
>
> If not, what benefit justifies even the small cost in complexity (of
> UI, of manual, and of code) of adding describe-command?

It makes it easier for users to look up only commands, as opposed to all
functions.

For end-users, many of which are non-programmers (or at least not ELisp
programmers), it is unnecessarily hard to find documentation for a
relevant command using `C-h f'.

Consider the situation when a user doesn't already know the command
name.  The workflow today is something like: use `M-x' to find the
command name, `C-a C-k C-g', then `C-h f C-y'.

This is even worse if you don't realize you can kill the command in the
minibuffer, which is actually not immediately obvious: the workflow is
then to try to remember the name and manually disambiguate it in the
mass of often fairly similar looking names thrown at you by `C-h f'.

So the idea is to combine searching for commands with looking up their
documentation.

I think the added complexity is a small price to pay for this
improvement in usability.

(The above is also based on my own experience and frustration, in both
the distant past and the not so distant past.)