GNU bug report logs - #56641
Deprecate `lsh`

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Message #56 received at 56641 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
To: Mattias Engdegård <mattiase <at> acm.org>
Cc: 56641 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#56641: Deprecate `lsh`
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2022 09:26:04 +0200

Mattias Engdegård <mattiase <at> acm.org> writes:

> The function `lsh` works almost like `ash` but is much slower, cannot
> be constant-folded by the compiler, and above all has confusing
> semantics for historical reasons. Using `lsh` instead of `ash` is
> always a mistake.
>
> For these reasons we should deprecate `lsh`. It is not important to
> remove it as soon as possible, but to dissuade people from
> accidentally using it in their code.

I agree.  I think the presence of `lsh' just confuses people.  Even when
Emacs didn't have bignums it was pretty odd, but I have absolutely no
idea what any theoretical use case would be today.

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