GNU bug report logs - #66756
30.0.50; [PATCH] Improve discussion of 'let' in Elisp Introduction manual

Previous Next

Package: emacs;

Reported by: Jim Porter <jporterbugs <at> gmail.com>

Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2023 05:56:01 UTC

Severity: normal

Tags: patch

Found in version 30.0.50

Fixed in version 29.2

Done: Jim Porter <jporterbugs <at> gmail.com>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

Full log


View this message in rfc822 format

From: Richard Stallman <rms <at> gnu.org>
To: Jim Porter <jporterbugs <at> gmail.com>
Cc: eliz <at> gnu.org, 66756 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#66756: 30.0.50; [PATCH] Improve discussion of 'let' in Elisp Introduction manual
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2023 22:39:03 -0500
[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

I think your changes are good.

  > +parts a ``scope'').  For historical reasons, Emacs Lisp uses a form of
  > +variable binding called ``dynamic binding'' by default.  However, in
  > +this manual, we discuss the preferred form of binding, called
  > +``lexical binding'' (if you have programmed in other languages before,
  > +you're likely already familiar with how lexical binding behaves).  In
  > +order to use lexical binding in a program, you should add this to the
  > +first line of your Emacs Lisp file:
  > +
  > +@example
  > +;;; -*- lexical-binding: t -*-
  > +@end example
  > +
  > +For more information about this, @pxref{Selecting Lisp Dialect, , ,
  > +elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual}.

Do we want to change the default some day to lexical binding:?  If so,
we should say so somewhere in this manual -- perhaps here, perhaps
elsewhere,

  > +If we instead change @code{lexical-binding} to have a value of
  > +@code{nil}, we will get a different result here.

"Get a different result" is vague -- it would be clearer if it said
concretely what will happen.

I suggest you show the dynamci situation in the same way you show the lexical
situation.  That will help people compare the two.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)






This bug report was last modified 1 year and 229 days ago.

Previous Next


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