Re: Ibuffer: w and B default to buffer at current line

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: John Wiegley <address@hidden>
> Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 15:05:20 -0700
> Cc: Emacs developers <address@hidden>
> 
> > If you compare the first patch with `dired-get-marked-files' (d-g-m-f) you
> > might change your mind: (d-g-m-f) returns a list with the file at point when
> > there are no marked files. The first patch follow similar idea.
> 
> I understand dired may also be taking this bad approach, but that's not a good
> reason to continue the practice.

But it isn't just Dired.  Having the marked items default to the
current one is a very frequent idiom in Emacs modes that present lists
of actionable items.  It is also consistent with what GUI file
managers out there do.

> Functions should do what they say, and not have lots of alternative
> functionality baked into them because it's a convenient hack today.

There's a clash here between this goal, and the goal of being
DWIMish.  One way of resolving the contradiction is to have the info
in the function's name, and if all else fails, in the doc string.