[gnu.emacs.bug] comment-start should always be a string

gildea@BBN.COM (Stephen Gildea) (01/05/89)

Currently, comment-start is "*String to insert to start a new comment,
or nil if no comment syntax defined."  This is a pain for simple
routines that want to insert some text into a buffer, surrounded by
comment delimiters.  It would be much more convenient if comment-start
were always a string ("" if no comment syntax) and the test for
whether there is a comment syntax be whether or not comment-start-skip
is non-nil.

 < Stephen

merlyn@intelob.biin.com (Randal L. Schwartz @ Stonehenge) (01/06/89)

In article <8901042305.AA26705@prep.ai.mit.edu>, gildea@BBN (Stephen Gildea) writes:
| Currently, comment-start is "*String to insert to start a new comment,
| or nil if no comment syntax defined."  This is a pain for simple
| routines that want to insert some text into a buffer, surrounded by
| comment delimiters.  It would be much more convenient if comment-start
| were always a string ("" if no comment syntax) and the test for
| whether there is a comment syntax be whether or not comment-start-skip
| is non-nil.

I disagree.  For one, I can use (not comment-start) as a test now to
see if a comment syntax is defined or not.  Also, if the behavior
you want is to *always* insert a string, try:

  (insert (or comment-start ""))

Looks pretty simple to me.
-- 
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gildea@BBN.COM (Stephen Gildea) (01/07/89)

    Date: 5 Jan 89 17:58:26 GMT
    From: "Randal L. Schwartz @ Stonehenge" <tektronix!reed!ogccse!littlei!omepd!merlyn@cis.ohio-state.edu>
    References: <8901042305.AA26705@prep.ai.mit.edu>
    
    In article <8901042305.AA26705@prep.ai.mit.edu>, gildea@BBN.COM writes:
    | Currently, comment-start is "*String to insert to start a new comment,
    | or nil if no comment syntax defined."  This is a pain for simple
    | routines that want to insert some text into a buffer, surrounded by
    | comment delimiters.  It would be much more convenient if comment-start
    | were always a string ("" if no comment syntax) and the test for
    | whether there is a comment syntax be whether or not comment-start-skip
    | is non-nil.
    
    I disagree.  For one, I can use (not comment-start) as a test now to
    see if a comment syntax is defined or not.
    ...

Read the original more carefully.  Under this proposal, the test to see
if a comment syntax is defined is simply (if comment-start-skip ...)
instead of the currently-used (if comment-start ...).

 < Stephen