GNU bug report logs - #49278
28.0.50; Lisp Mode is for Common Lisp

Previous Next

Full log

View this message in rfc822 format

From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
To: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
Cc: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>, João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com>, "49278 <at> debbugs.gnu.org" <49278 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: bug#49278: [External] : bug#49278: 28.0.50; Lisp Mode is for Common Lisp
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2021 18:25:58 -0400

>> >> "Because it's only appropriate for Common Lisp."  Good enough?
>> > No.  We don't know that.  We can't know that.
>> 
>> Whether it works for other modes is not important.  What we should
>> document is what it's intended to support.
>> 
>> People have used `c-mode` for many other languages than C over the
>> years, yet we haven't changed its documentation to say it for C-like
>> languages.
>> 
>> I don't understand why `lisp-mode` should be treated differently.
>
> I don't see how what you're saying is different
> from what I said, but I sense that you intend
> it to mean something different.

AFAIK you're arguing that we should not say "lisp-mode is designed for
Common-Lisp" on the basis that some users may be able to use for some
other languages, whereas I argue it doesn't matter what other languages
it may be used for unless we know and care about them to some extent.

If/when some other language pops up which we decide is important enough
(and similar enough) to support in `lisp-mode`, then we can revise the
doc, but for the last 20 years at least, `lisp-mode` has exclusively
catered to the needs of Common Lisp (even if some people have likely
used it for other languages, which I have no intention to prevent or
object to).

Other Lisps have their own major mode (Emacs Lisp, Scheme, Clojure,
Shen, ...).

> It's a Lisp mode.  (George: "Is there a rosy hue?"
> Jerry: "There's...a...hue")

No, that's the thing, it's a Common Lisp mode, not just "any Lisp" mode.

> We know it kinda works for Common Lisp.  You apparently know it kinda
> doesn't work for Scheme or Clojure.

I neither know nor care whether it does or not.  Just like we neither
know nor care whether `c-mode` works for other languages when we say
that `c-mode` is a major mode for C.

> It sounds like the main question here is whether
> to call it out as something only for Common Lisp,

Indeed, what else do you think we were discussing?

> in which its name should be changed,

Why should the name of the major mode be relevant to this discussion?


        Stefan

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.