Re: best practices

[Kieren MacMillan]

Graham,

> We *have* a set of "best practices".
> They're LM 5 Working on LilyPond projects.

Unless I'm missing something, there is no "best practice" on how to  
(e.g.) efficiently handle instrument switching. There are, of course,  
several references to the concept widely scattered throughout the  
documentation, and a few tips/snippets here and there on *some* of  
the techniques required (e.g., \transpose).

But what I'm talking about is a REAL-WORLD, BEST-PRACTICE example/ 
tutorial -- can you point me to that part of the documentation, please?

> I wrote them two years ago, and AFAIK nobody has ever read them.

Actually, I read them several times several years ago -- when I was  
engraving "Drunken Moon" -- and have referred to them several times  
since. For a simple score (which has no key changes and no instrument  
switches), I suppose the section is sufficient.

Sadly, it doesn't solve the myriad other issues that actually arise  
when writing/coding real multi-instrumentalist music, so it's not as  
helpful as it should be.

> We welcome more suggestions for this section, of course.

Okay: I suggest you include a section which shows how to code a score  
consisting of multiple key signature changes, with multiple  
instrumentalists each of whom switch between two (or more)  
instruments of different transpositions, and demonstrate how both  
transposed and non-transposed full scores and parts can be compiled  
with a minimum of effort and extraneous code, while still conforming  
to the "best practices" laid out in other sections of the  
documentation (e.g., use of \global variables, etc.)

For the record, I don't think it would be very useful just to put non- 
peer-reviewed ideas up there, and hope not to lead Lilypond coders  
astray -- once we, as a community/list, have actually settled on some  
(truly) best practices, I'll be happy to write them up and submit  
them for the docs.

Cheers,
Kieren.