GNU bug report logs - #16328
24.3.50; [PATCH] Enable narrowing to defun with function header comments also visible

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Phil Sainty <psainty <at> orcon.net.nz>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 24.3.50;
 [PATCH] Enable narrowing to defun with function header comments
 also visible
Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2014 21:57:22 +1300

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

For languages where the programmer must resort to function header
comments to describe a function, I've always found it frustrating
that `narrow-to-defun' cuts out this often-critical information.

This patch provides a new function `narrow-to-defun-including-comments'
to keep these comments visible when narrowing.

As there may be multiple per-line comments instead of a single block
comment, I'm skipping back past ALL preceding comments. That seemed
reasonable instead of trying to guess how the author has structured
their comments. Stopping at an empty line would *probably* be okay,
but in the end I figured that potentially showing too much seemed
better than showing too little.

(I've included a check for page breaks within the comments, however,
as I was confident about excluding anything before one of those.)

I didn't think it was wise to encourage users to modify the behaviour
of `narrow-to-defun' itself (I certainly have programmatic uses for
that), so instead I've indicated the way to remap the interactive
bindings for users who wish to use this as standard.


-Phil

[narrow-to-defun-include-comments.patch (text/plain, attachment)]

Message #8 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Phil Sainty <psainty <at> orcon.net.nz>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: 24.3.50; [PATCH] Enable narrowing to defun with function header
 comments also visible
Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2014 03:14:31 +1300

On 3/01/2014 21:57, Phil Sainty wrote:
> I didn't think it was wise to encourage users to modify the behaviour
> of `narrow-to-defun' itself (I certainly have programmatic uses for
> that)

Actually, that was a complete lie. The code I was thinking of uses
c-mark-function, not narrow-to-defun.

Maybe it would be completely fine to just make this a user option,
with no added function?

OTOH, me not using it obviously doesn't mean no one does, so the
more-cautious approach may still be preferable?

Message #11 received at 16328 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
To: Phil Sainty <psainty <at> orcon.net.nz>, 16328 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: RE: bug#16328: 24.3.50; [PATCH] Enable narrowing to defun with
 function header comments also visible
Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2014 08:38:20 -0800 (PST)

> For languages where the programmer must resort to function header
> comments to describe a function, I've always found it frustrating
> that `narrow-to-defun' cuts out this often-critical information.
> 
> This patch provides a new function `narrow-to-defun-including-
> comments' to keep these comments visible when narrowing.
> 
> As there may be multiple per-line comments instead of a single block
> comment, I'm skipping back past ALL preceding comments. That seemed
> reasonable instead of trying to guess how the author has structured
> their comments. Stopping at an empty line would *probably* be okay,
> but in the end I figured that potentially showing too much seemed
> better than showing too little.
> 
> (I've included a check for page breaks within the comments, however,
> as I was confident about excluding anything before one of those.)
> 
> I didn't think it was wise to encourage users to modify the
> behaviour of `narrow-to-defun' itself (I certainly have programmatic
> uses for that), so instead I've indicated the way to remap the
> interactive bindings for users who wish to use this as standard.

Hi Phil.  I wonder whether we couldn't just modify `narrow-to-defun',
changing to (interactive "P") and using the unused argument as prefix
arg to get this behavior?

Perhaps someone knows more about the history of that argument.
Grepping the Emacs sources, at least, I see no programmatic uses of
`narrow-to-defun' that pass an argument.  And anyway, the argument
is ignored.

But presumably we would have kept the unused argument to allow
`narrow-to-defun' to be used as a functional argument in a context
where it might receive an argument?  If there were such uses then
perhaps passing the prefix arg could prove problematic.  Dunno.

Anyway, seems reasonable to try, or at least to investigate.
`C-u C-x n d' would then already be one key binding for this.

[BTW, I didn't check your code, but if it doesn't already, it could
perhaps use code similar to that of `reposition-window', to determine
the starting point for the narrowing.  That command (`C-M-l') is
somewhat similar.]

Message #14 received at 16328 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Josh <josh <at> foxtail.org>
To: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
Cc: Phil Sainty <psainty <at> orcon.net.nz>, 16328 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#16328: 24.3.50; [PATCH] Enable narrowing to defun with
 function header comments also visible
Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2014 00:41:18 -0800

Unpolished but related: http://paste.lisp.org/display/136136


On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 8:38 AM, Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com> wrote:
>> For languages where the programmer must resort to function header
>> comments to describe a function, I've always found it frustrating
>> that `narrow-to-defun' cuts out this often-critical information.
>>
>> This patch provides a new function `narrow-to-defun-including-
>> comments' to keep these comments visible when narrowing.
>>
>> As there may be multiple per-line comments instead of a single block
>> comment, I'm skipping back past ALL preceding comments. That seemed
>> reasonable instead of trying to guess how the author has structured
>> their comments. Stopping at an empty line would *probably* be okay,
>> but in the end I figured that potentially showing too much seemed
>> better than showing too little.
>>
>> (I've included a check for page breaks within the comments, however,
>> as I was confident about excluding anything before one of those.)
>>
>> I didn't think it was wise to encourage users to modify the
>> behaviour of `narrow-to-defun' itself (I certainly have programmatic
>> uses for that), so instead I've indicated the way to remap the
>> interactive bindings for users who wish to use this as standard.
>
> Hi Phil.  I wonder whether we couldn't just modify `narrow-to-defun',
> changing to (interactive "P") and using the unused argument as prefix
> arg to get this behavior?
>
> Perhaps someone knows more about the history of that argument.
> Grepping the Emacs sources, at least, I see no programmatic uses of
> `narrow-to-defun' that pass an argument.  And anyway, the argument
> is ignored.
>
> But presumably we would have kept the unused argument to allow
> `narrow-to-defun' to be used as a functional argument in a context
> where it might receive an argument?  If there were such uses then
> perhaps passing the prefix arg could prove problematic.  Dunno.
>
> Anyway, seems reasonable to try, or at least to investigate.
> `C-u C-x n d' would then already be one key binding for this.
>
> [BTW, I didn't check your code, but if it doesn't already, it could
> perhaps use code similar to that of `reposition-window', to determine
> the starting point for the narrowing.  That command (`C-M-l') is
> somewhat similar.]
>
>
>

Message #19 received at 16328-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
To: Phil Sainty <psainty <at> orcon.net.nz>
Cc: 16328-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#16328: 24.3.50;
 [PATCH] Enable narrowing to defun with function header comments also
 visible
Date: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 22:04:18 -0400

Version:24.5

> This patch provides a new function `narrow-to-defun-including-comments'
> to keep these comments visible when narrowing.

I installed your patch into trunk, except that it only includes the
narrow-to-defun-include-comments variable and no new command.

Maybe we could make C-u toggle choose between the two behaviors.
Or switch between the two choices when repeating the command.

Thank you very much, and sorry for the delay,


        Stefan 

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