Re: `isearch-allow-scroll' - a misnomer and a bad design

[PJ Weisberg]

On Saturday, September 10, 2011, Alan Mackenzie <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hi, Drew.
>
> On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 09:43:23AM -0700, Drew Adams wrote:
>> > NO NO NO!!!  A "scrolling command" is a command which MOST DEFINITELY
>> > DOESN'T exit the isearch.  This is the definition of
>> > "scrolling command" in isearch.  With this in mind, please think
>> > through everything you've written.
>
>> Well, yes and no.  Yes, in general Isearch tries to prevent exit.
>
> Dash it, Drew, you can try a man's patience.  It was me who programmed
> the device, me who first used "scrolling command", so I get to define
> what it means.  I know you don't like the term, but if you can't bring
> yourself to use it as I've defined it, please suggest another term for
> it.  If we can't agree on terminology, then there's not much point trying
> to carry out a discussion.

The problem is that you've defined "scrolling command" to mean something that has nothing to do with scrolling (i.e., commands which MOST DEFINITELY DON'T exit isearch).  This leads to ridiculous conclusions such as "C-u `universal-argument' is a scrolling command in its
own right."

> I'm kind of with Stephen at the moment.  What exactly do you mean by
> "command pass-through"?

Awkward phrasing, but if you read Drew's post it's fairly clear what he meant:  `C-u' "passes through" if it passes a prefix argument to the next command (its normal purpose) without exiting isearch.  So, a command "passes through" if it also works normally without exiting isearch.

-- 

-PJ