Re: Moving kbd to subr.el

[Stefan Monnier]

Lars Ingebrigtsen [2021-10-19 04:30:38] wrote:
> Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:
>>> We could indeed, but I don't want to have different syntaxes in
>>> different functions.  It'd suck if you can't lift a key definition from
>>> `define-keymap' and use it in `local-set-key'.
>> Then I suggest not to support strings at all in `define-keymap`.
> The same argument is as valid in the opposite direction.  I.e., if you
> see a key binding used in `local-set-key', you should be able to use it
> in `define-keymap'.

I don't think this holds.
It's normal for higher-level APIs to rely on higher-level representations.

>> The old string syntax for keys just sucks and we should work towards
>> its reduction, even if it will stay with us for the foreseeable future.
> I totally agree that the old string syntax for keys sucks, but there is
> no realistic way to phase it out.

In the short term, no, but if you look at the 10-20 year horizon it
seems quite doable.  Whether we do manage to completely remove it or not
doesn't matter very much for the benefit of Emacs users we should make
it so the user and coder will never need to know about it, and for that
we should actively discourage its use, starting by not supporting it
where it doesn't have to be supported.


        Stefan