RE: RE: Auto Fill Comments

[arthur miller]

Yes, Emacs terminology is old. I dislike killing stuff, reminds me of war, I 
never heard  word yank before I start using and font locking sounds like I am 
in a prison. But if you can go past few names, Emacs is quite useful piece of 
software. Probably the most advanced terminal emulator I have ever used, and it 
even has a text editor built in.

And nowadays it can swap more than 8 meg of ram too!


-------- Originalmeddelande --------
Från: Christopher Dimech <dimech@gmx.com>
Datum: 2020-11-27 01:48 (GMT+01:00)
Till: Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>
Kopia: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Ämne: Re: RE: Auto Fill Comments

The manuals should be rewritten because they are incomprehensible.
Perhaps it was good in the eighties.  It continues forever.  Consider
"face customisation" for instance, which just means font.  Nobody
fuckin reads a manual with 17 nodes.  You don't know which one to use,
which commands are most useful, and so on.  The problem gets compounded
because every esoteric command is there.

You are just insisting on something bad and inefficient.


---------------------
Christopher Dimech
General Administrator - Naiad Informatics - GNU Project (Geocomputation)
- Geophysical Simulation
- Geological Subsurface Mapping
- Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation
- Natural Resource Exploration and Production
- Free Software Advocacy


> Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2020 at 10:51 PM
> From: "Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> To: "Christopher Dimech" <dimech@gmx.com>, tomas@tuxteam.de
> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: RE: Auto Fill Comments
>
> > Had thought that setq was actually a global
> > thing, not local. For local variables I was
> > using "let" and "let*", but that seems a
> > wrong understanding.
>
> Please read the manual, node `Variables', as
> Tomas advised.  But don't just skim it.  And
> read its (5) subnodes.
>
> https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Variables.html
>
> As seems to be the case with many of your
> questions, this is all explained clearly in
> the Emacs doc.
>
> There are local variables and ... local
> variables.  Variables bound by `let',
> `lambda', and named functions (formal
> parameters) are typically local in more or
> less the usual programming sense.
>
> [But if such a variable is in fact defined
>  as "special", or global if you prefer,
>  then a `let' binding of it is "local" to
>  the _duration_ of the `let' - the binding
>  is _temporary_.  E.g., (defvar foo 42)
>  followed by (let ((foo 24)) ...) may
>  (depending on the context) bind global
>  variable `foo' temporarily to 24.]
>
> Buffer-local and file-local variables are
> something else altogether.  They are global
> variables that have a value that is specific
> to - local in scope to - the current buffer
> or file.  Some variables have a buffer-local
> value in some buffers but only a global
> value in other buffers (no buffer-local
> value there).  Other variables are always
> only buffer-local.
>
> But again, don't listen to my explanation.
> Consult the doc instead.  It's more exact,
> more complete, and better presented
> (clearer).
>
> And when you've read what the Emacs manual
> has to tell you about variables, consider
> reading what the Elisp manual has to say
> about variables.  There too, start with its
> node `Variables', and move on to its (17!)
> subnodes.
>
> https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Variables.html
>
> You don't do yourself any favors, or
> encourage help in forums such as this, by
> not trying to make use of the doc.
>
> The doc is the result of years of effort
> and collaboration, taking into account
> tons of feedback by users of all sorts.
> You're not special - try benefitting from
> the efforts of those who've gone before.
> THEN, if you have a question, please do
> ask it.
>
> HTH.
>