Subject: Re: bug#67185: Small bug in the Introduction to Elisp manual

From: Richard Stallman <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2023 22:40:43 -0500

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  > That manual uses "converse" and "conversely" about half a dozen times:
  > are all of them incorrect, and actually mean "opposite" or maybe "by
  > contrast"?

I checked these, and I think they are correct.  Each one is about reversing
the direction of some relation, and "converse" means that/

    > The @code{kill-region} function definition also has an @code{unless}
    > macro; it is the converse of @code{when}.

That should say "opposite".  It's opposite because in the situation
where `when' runs its body, `unless' does not run its body.

                                                 The @code{unless} macro is
    > an @code{if} without a then clause

The point is valid if understood in a figurative sense -- so the
words need to indicate it is meant figuratively, not literally.  How
to do that?  Maybe this:

                                                 The @code{unless} macro is
     like an @code{if} except that it has no then-clause, and it supplies
     an implicit @code{nil} for that.

-- 
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)