Re: Escape syntax in docstrings

[Mattias Engdegård]

23 mars 2023 kl. 23.32 skrev Chen Zhaoyang <chenzhauyang@gmail.com>:

> I totally did not know about the fact that "\x" means NUL in docstrings. 

Most likely even the original author of that code in the Lisp reader did 
totally not know about that.

> I do agree that using the slash to represent λ in docstring is not so
> good to begin with.

There is always a tension in doc strings between their dual roles as comments 
to be read in the source, and as strings to be displayed in help text. Text 
mark-up in doc strings and comments adds an extra layer to the problem.

The best we can do is trying to catch mistakes as early as possible.

>> Good catch. Would you tell the Agdas about it?
> 
> Yeah, I am grepping for cases like this and will submit a patch to them soon.

Excellent. There is now a special \x check in relint as well.