Re: Issue #768 - chord repetition shortcut: patch for review

[Han-Wen Nienhuys]

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 10:25 AM, David Kastrup <address@hidden> wrote:
> Kieren MacMillan <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>>> Could it be an option to make <c e g>4*8 do the obvious thing?
>>> Or even { <c e g>4 }*8 ?
>>> That would be so much more natural.  The first already does something,
>>> but not something which I would call useful.
>>
>> I use it all the time, actually.
>>
>>> The second bombs out. In contrast, q feels rather hackish.
>>
>> Since the patch (as I understand it) ensures that q does not duplicate
>> anything except the notes, q allows for
>>
>>    <c e g>8-. q-^ q-. q-^
>>
>> etc., right? Obviously, this would *not* be possible with something like
>>
>>    <c e g>4*8
>
> OTOH, something like
> { <c e g>8-. <c e g>-^ }*2
>
> is not doable with the q approach.

z =
#(define-music-function (times arg)
   #{ \repeat $times $arg #})

(or similar - the syntax details escape me at the moment.)

*X  for repetitions is out of the question, because it will break
backward compatibility of the language.  We have done too many of
these breakages already, and the small merit of a *X syntax does not
compensate breaking user's files gratuitously again.

-- 
Han-Wen Nienhuys - address@hidden - http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanwen