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Re: How to make Emacs popular again.


From: Eli Zaretskii
Subject: Re: How to make Emacs popular again.
Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2020 17:13:30 +0300

> From: Georges Ko <gko@gko.net>
> Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2020 22:05:07 +0800
> 
> Regarding the Emacs Lisp manual, something that would be helpful is to
> list the functions, user options, commands, etc. of each chapter at the
> top or in its own section, so that one doesn't need to go to that
> specific chapter just to get the forgotten name of a function or one can
> quickly see all the symbols in one page for a topic.
> 
> In the Common Lisp HyperSpec, each chapter has a dictionary chapter at
> the end, listing all the functions, variables, etc. For example, if we
> look at Strings in 
> http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Body/16_.htm,
> we can see:
> 
>   16. Strings
>   16.1 String Concepts
>   16.2 The Strings Dictionary
> 
> with the page "The Strings Dictionary" listing related elements:
> 
>      System Class STRING
>      Type BASE-STRING
>      Type SIMPLE-STRING
>      Type SIMPLE-BASE-STRING
>      Function SIMPLE-STRING-P
>      Accessor CHAR, SCHAR
>      Function STRING
>      Function STRING-UPCASE, STRING-DOWNCASE, STRING-CAPITALIZE, 
> NSTRING-UPCASE, NSTRING-DOWNCASE, NSTRING-CAPITALIZE
>      Function STRING-TRIM, STRING-LEFT-TRIM, STRING-RIGHT-TRIM
>      Function STRING=, STRING/=, STRING<, STRING>, STRING<=, STRING>=, 
> STRING-EQUAL, STRING-NOT-EQUAL, STRING-LESSP, STRING-GREATERP, 
> STRING-NOT-GREATERP, STRING-NOT-LESSP
>      Function STRINGP
>      Function MAKE-STRING

We support that via indexing: each symbol is indexed, and the command
Info-index, bound to 'i', lands you exactly where the symbol is
described.  You don't even need to go through the section where it is
described.  Just type 'i SYMBOL RET" anywhere in the manual, and you
should see the place where that SYMBOL is described.

This is IMO more efficient that lists such as the one above,
especially because these lists can be very long and time-consuming to
search.



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