GNU bug report logs -
#55408
Explain the word "interactively" in the Emacs Manual
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Reported by: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
Date: Sat, 14 May 2022 08:17:02 UTC
Severity: wishlist
Done: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.
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> We use this style in many doc strings. I'd consider it a standard
> Emacs language of describing what happens in interactive invocations,
> and presume that any Emacs user knows only too well what it means.
> If we change our style, we'd have to change it in many places,
> including the manual.
I happen to agree with that, generally. It's part
of what I meant by:
There's maybe no magic bullet here: something short
and sweet that can be repeated in most doc strings,
but that also gets across everything about this:
...
> > > The very first line presented in the *Help* buffer says:
> > > package-update-all is an interactive compiled Lisp function in
> > > ‘package.el’. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >
> > I think it would probably be more helpful if that line said "a
> > command" instead of "an interactive compiled Lisp function".
>
> It is both a command and a function. Every command can be also
> invoked non-interactively. That is what that sentence says, and has
> been saying since day one.
Agreed. The "problem" is that the meaning might
not be clear to some (many?) users consulting a
doc string.
Whether it's worth trying to solve that problem,
with the attendant bother you mention (changing
lots of doc strings), and with the difficulty of
coming up with a short-and-sweet-and-clear fix,
which I mention, is another question.
IMO, things are pretty good already. But yeah,
it's likely a bit of a problem, esp. for newbies.
This bug report was last modified 3 years and 8 days ago.
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