Re: constant `e'

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, Daniel

On Sat, Feb 10, 2007 at 12:35:30PM +0100, Daniel Brockman wrote:

[ .... ]

> Incidentally, I also think `(not (null n))' looks better than `n' ---
> as do, I believe, most Emacs Lisp programmers.

I disagree with you on both counts.  When I see `(not (null n))', it
takes extra effort mentally to filter out what, to me, is just noise.

> Take a look at this code:

>   (cond (n
>          (bongo-mark-line-forward (prefix-numeric-value n)))
>         ((bongo-region-active-p)
>          (bongo-mark-region (region-beginning) (region-end)))
>         (t
>          (bongo-mark-line-forward)))

> It's ugly, isn't it?  It's not just that `(not (null n))' is
> semantically clearer than a lone `n'; it's also more beautiful.

It's more alliterative, perhaps.  But it feels like I'm being talked down
to - the programmer is saying, in effect "you probably don't understand
Lisp very well, so I'll make it very very clear".

[ .... ]

> -- 
> Daniel Brockman <address@hidden>

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Ittersbach, Germany).