Re: [elpa] master 74818d5: Brief Mode v5.86 release.

[Stefan Monnier]

Hi Luke,

Thanks for working on Brief mode.  I have some comments on your patch, tho.

> +BRIEFVERSION=${BRIEFVERSION-"5.86"}
[...]
> +    BRIEFVERSION     ELPA brief version, default "5.86"

I'd recommend not to default to any specific version, because it's very
likely that someone will end up bumping the "Version:" header in
brief.el without realizing that it needs to be updated elsewhere.

Some with all the places where you say "5.86" in the README: better
reword it such that it doesn't need to be updated when the version
number changes.

> +# Search for brief.el or brief.elc through default path list

Why not just assume that the `brief` package was properly installed,
and hence `emacs -l brief` will just work™?

> +#!/bin/bash

Do you actually make use of bash-isms?  If so, can we avoid them
without too much extra work?  If not, we should say "/bin/sh".

> +exec ${EMACS} --load ${BRIEFPATH}/brief --eval \
> +"(progn \
> +  (setq-default truncate-lines t) \
> +  (setq scroll-step 1 \
> +        scroll-conservatively 101) \
> +  (setq hscroll-margin 1 \
> +        hscroll-step 1) \
> +  (scroll-bar-mode -1) \
> +  (brief-mode 1))" \
> +"address@hidden"

Why are these (h)scroll settings here instead of adding them to
brief-mode?

If you want to keep `brief-mode` as a mode which doesn't impose
particular (h)scroll settings (which is probably a good idea, indeed),
then you could add a new function to brief.el and call that function
instead of `brief-mode`.

> diff --git a/packages/brief/b.el b/packages/brief/b.el
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000..4a0ab6b
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/packages/brief/b.el
> @@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
> +(setq-default truncate-lines t)
> +;;(setq-default global-visual-line-mode t)
> +(setq scroll-step 1
> +      scroll-conservatively 101)
> +(setq hscroll-margin 1
> +      hscroll-step 1)
> +(scroll-bar-mode -1)
> +(load "~/bin/elisp/brief/brief")
> +(brief-mode 1)

Several problems here:
- I don't see any place where this file is used.
- the chance that (load "~/bin/elisp/brief/brief") will work
  on the user's system is fairly slim.
- this file will be in the `load-path` so (load "b") will load it and so
  will (require 'b).  I think we'd rather keep such short names for more
  popular packages (like the `s` package).
- this Elisp file doesn't follow the convention that loading a file
  doesn't have significant effects (i.e. it just defines new vars and
  functions).

> diff --git a/packages/brief/brief.el b/packages/brief/brief.el
> index 1dd3181..66d3790 100644
> --- a/packages/brief/brief.el
> +++ b/packages/brief/brief.el
> @@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
> -;;; brief.el --- Brief Editor Emulator
> +;;; brief.el --- Brief Editor Emulator (Brief Mode)

The Commentary says

    ;; On Linux: (including native X11 Emacs, terminal mode Emacs on xterm
    ;;            and Linux X11 Emacs running on VcXsrv (1.19.3.4+) under
    ;;            Win10):
    ;;      Emacs 23.3.1, 24.4.50.2, 25.2.2, 26.0.50, 26.1 and 27.0.50.

has 5.86 still been tested with all those Emacs versions?
Any chance you'd be willing to drop compatibility with Emacs-23 (which
doesn't come with package.el)?

> +(defcustom brief-search-replace-using-regexp t
> +  "An option determine if search & replace using regular expression or 
> string.
> +This is a buffer local variable with default value 't which means
> +regular expression is used for search & replace commands by default."
> +  :type  'boolean
> +  :group 'brief)

The `:group 'brief` is redundant (it defaults to the last group defined
in the same file).  Same applies to all other defcustoms.
Oh, and the docstring doesn't need to say "An option" ;-)

>  (defcustom brief-fake-region-face 'region ; 'secondary-selection
>    "The face (color) of fake region when `brief-search-fake-region-mark' is 
> t."
> -  :type  'boolean
> +  :type  'sexp
>    :group 'brief)

You probably want `:type 'face` here.

> +(defvar-local brief-search-overlay nil
> +  "A buffer local overlay which records the current search selection.
> +It is deleted when the search ends or region deactivated.")

It should probably use a "--" in the name.

>  (defvar brief-latest-killed-buffer-info nil
> -  "This variable records the info of the most recently killed file
> -buffer.  If user accidentally killed a file buffer, it can be
> -recovered accordingly.
> +  "This variable records the info of the most recently killed file buffer.
> +If user accidentally killed a file buffer, it can be recovered
> +accordingly.
>  Information is a list of:

As above, the docstring doesn't need to say "This variable records".

> +(defmacro brief-meta-l-key (updown key)
> +  "Define key function and associated the key in `brief-prefix-meta-l'."
> +  (let* ((dir     (symbol-name updown))
> +         (keydesc (key-description key))
> +         (keyfunc (intern (concat "brief-mark-line-" dir "-with-" keydesc))))
> +    `(progn
> +       (defun ,keyfunc ()
> +         ,(concat "Mark line " dir " with " keydesc " key")
> +         (interactive)
> +         (,(intern (concat "brief-call-mark-line-" dir "-with-key"))
> +          ,key))
> +       (define-key brief-prefix-meta-l ,key ',keyfunc))))

This macro name and docstring makes it sound like it works for anything
one might want to have under the M-l prefix, yet the code seems to
limit this to those few operations named
brief-call-mark-line-*-with-key, so it's much more focused than announced.

>                          (call-interactively
>                           '(lambda (filename)

Please don't quote your lambdas.

> +  (let* (c1
> +         (p1 (save-excursion
> +               (end-of-visual-line)
> +               (setq c1 (following-char)) (point)))
> +         (p2 (save-excursion
> +               (end-of-line) (point)))) ;; `end-of-line' of course is at crlf

I think you can turn this into:

    (let* ((p1 (save-excursion
                 (end-of-visual-line)
                 (point)))
           (c1 (char-after p1))
           (p2 (line-end-position))) ;; `end-of-line' of course is at crlf

> +(defun brief-toggle-auto-backup ()
> +  "Toggle auto-backup on or off."
> +  (interactive)
> +  (message "Turn Emacs auto-backup %s"
> +           (if (setq auto-save-default (not auto-save-default))
> +               "ON" "OFF")))

You could use a minor mode, here:

    (define-minor-mode brief-auto-backup-mode
      "Whether auto-backup is done"
      :global t
      :variable auto-save-default)

> +(defun brief-beginning-of-file ()
> +  "Goto beginning of file."
> +  (interactive "^")
> +  (goto-char (point-min)))

Why not (defalias 'brief-beginning-of-file #'beginning-of-buffer) ?

> +(defun brief-end-of-file ()
> +  "Goto end of file."
> +  (interactive "^")
> +  (goto-char (point-max)))

Why not (defalias 'brief-end-of-file #'end-of-buffer) ?

> +(defun brief-open-new-line-next ()
> +  "Open a new line right below the current line and go there."
> +  (interactive)
> +  (move-end-of-line 1)
> +  (newline))

Why not (defalias 'brief-open-new-line-next #'open-line) ?


        Stefan