Re: timer.el API

[Michael Heerdegen]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

> And its effect is very poorly defined in its docstring.  So whichever
> behavior we choose for it, I'm sure someone can come up with
> a legitimate case where that precise behavior is indeed needed.

Madhu wrote:

> The idea was to handle a "mode" where keystrokes would enter characters
> in a "search string". the "mode" would timeout after a 10 seconds. If a
> new character of the "search string" is read within the timeout period,
> the timer is renewed ("respooled"). If a non "search string" character
> is read, then the timer is cancelled and the "mode" exits.

This is exactly the scheme I need now and then, and the only kind of
task where I wanted `timer-activate'.

> Someone™ should probably take a step back, decide what the exposed API
> *should* be, rename the rest to use internal names, and then add
> obsolete aliases to temporarily preserve backward compatibility.

Maybe renaming `timer-activate' to `timer--activate' and implementing a
solution for the above kind of requirement would already be a big part
of the way?

Michael.