Subject: Re: bug#6283: doc/lispref/searching.texi reference to octal code `0377' correct?

From: MON KEY <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2010 12:06:34 -0400

On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 2:26 PM, Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]> wrote:
>> Do you not see a contradiction of convention here?
>
> No, I see two different conventions used interchangeably.

Do you recognize that one convention is explicity recognized by
Emacs/Emacs-elisp whereas the other is not? Do you recognize that each
of these can be readily evaluated from within info by the Emacs lisp
reader and produce an equivalent decimal value which is in keeping
with the context/scope of the presented subject matter:

 #xff => 255
 (identity #xff)  => 255

 #o377            => 255
 (identity #o377) => 255

While the following evaluates to decimal 377 and does not:

 0377                    => 377
 (identity 0377)         => 377
 (identity "octal 0377") => "octal 0377"

Do you see that these two different return values may not be seen as
equivalent by the user?

Do you see that these two different return values may not be seen as
interchangeable by the user?

In either case, do you recognize that while these two separate return
values may be mutually inclusive conventions understood by the
initiated, the user may not have been suitably intitiated to have been
made aware of these respective conventions and the mechanics of their
interchangeability?

Can you maybe see how the interchangeable use of these two different
conventions might be confusing to the audience for which the _elisp_
manual was intended (presumably those interested in the conventions of
the Emacs' _elisp_ API where such set of users may not necessarily
represent/reflect the general programming community at large)?

--
/s_P\