GNU bug report logs - #44932
28.0.50; MINIBUF 'nomini' for window-in-direction

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Message #30 received at 44932 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
Cc: rudalics <at> gmx.at, 44932 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, juri <at> linkov.net
Subject: RE: bug#44932: 28.0.50; MINIBUF 'nomini' for window-in-direction
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2020 19:49:44 -0800 (PST)

> > > I don't know why MINI-WINDOW would be better than
> > > MINIBUF. Is this distinction significant here?
> >
> > IMHO, MINI-WINDOW would be worse.  It's not
> > about a small window.
> 
> "Mini-window" is accepted terminology in Emacs, it is used, e.g., in
> resize-mini-windows.  So there's nothing wrong with using that.  (And
> yes, usually that window _is_ small.)

You're discussing only how to refer to this
parameter in doc strings.  I contributed my 2 cents.

As for the "accepted terminology" of "mini-window",
I've also given my opinion about that unfortunate
name more generally:

https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=11276#24

  "it is wrong to use only "mini" here.  This is not
   just a mini-window, i.e., a small window - it is a
   minibuffer window.  See bug #3320, deemed "wont-fix"
   by Lars:

   http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=3320.

   Perhaps now that others consider that
   `resize-mini-windows' is a misnomer (for
   additional reasons), this misuse of "mini" can
   be reconsidered."

Bug #3320 was filed at the request of another who also
felt that such "accepted terminology" is unfortunate:

  "these misleading names have bitten me too."

> it is used, e.g., in resize-mini-windows"

And now what was discussed as a bad-name bug has
been canonized as a model of good naming.

You have a chance now, when considering parameter
names, to start to put things on the right track,
even if you don't rename `resize-mini-windows'.

Multiplying wrongs doesn't make a right.

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