Re: Indentation of def*

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> Please keep the heuristic.  It is still useful.
>
> If file A uses a deffoober construct defined in file B, and you visit
> file A with file B not loaded, the heuristic will make the uses of
> deffoober indent properly.

Or wrongly -- functions like `default-boundp' are indented wrongly using
that heuristic.

> The idea of this was that if you define something whose name starts
> with `def', it should be a defining construct.  If people don't follow
> that convention, that's a mistake.

They don't follow that convention.

> Giving those macros explicit indentation properties is ok.  With that
> done, the heuristic is no longer needed when their definitions are loaded.
>
> But I think we should still use the heuristic for any def... construct
> whose definition is not currenly loaded.

I don't see what makes these macros special.  You have the same problem
with macros like `with-*' and `when-let' -- these also indent wrongly if
you haven't loaded their definitions.

The moral is: If you edit Emacs Lisp, you should load the file you're
editing first, otherwise it'll indent badly.  We've plastered over this
"problem" for the def* macros only, but there's so many other macros
that also need special indentation that handling def* macros specially
is a disservice to everybody.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no