Re: [PATCH] standards: rewrite section on quoting

[Paolo Bonzini]

On 12/23/2011 10:07 AM, Paul Eggert wrote:
> [Adding bug-gnulib since I'm attaching a gnulib patch.]
>
> On 12/23/11 00:22, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
> > >     This permits GNU gettext to replace the string @code{"Processing file
> > > ! \"%s\"..."} with a translated version.
> >
> > This is ugly...
>
> How about if we change that to:
>
>    This permits GNU gettext to replace @code{Processing file "%s"...}
>    with a translated version.
>
> That way we don't have to worry about the extra level of quoting
> and escaping.

But we do have to worry in the code, which is the actual reason why 
programs usually use single-quotes (without any reference to British 
quoting).  It also makes it more error-prone to do the conversion (I 
spotted one in your patch at tests/unigbrk).

> > do you really dislike apostrophe quotes so much?
>
> I grew up with "I'm hungry" rather than 'I'm hungry', yes.

For that matter, me too.

> I estimate that adjusting gnulib to match this
> suggestion will require approximately a 500 kB patch:
> it's not just the patches you proposed starting in
> <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnulib/2011-12/msg00164.html>,
> it's also that the gnulib code itself should follow its own quoting
> recommendations.  Attached is an untested first cut at the sort
> of additional fixes that would be needed.

I don't think comments need to be adjusted, also because many of them 
are cut-and-pasted from info files (or look like that).  I attach a 
vastly reduced version that only affects code.

You could reduce it further by not changing test code.

> Many of the patches
> are to files that we're importing from other packages -- I assume
> these fixes would be sent upstream.

Changes to comments will likely be rejected there.

Paolo

patch2.patch
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