Error in (info "(gnus)Splitting Mail")

Error in (info "(gnus)Splitting Mail")

[Štěpán Němec]

Tommy Kelly <tommy.kelly@verilab.com> writes:

> Thanks Štěpán. I think I'd figure that but what was confusing me was the
> fact that an unescaped dot was shown in examples for the non-fancy
> split method. For example, in info "6.3.3 Splitting Mail" you see an
> example of:
>
>      ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@majordomo.com")
>
> So shouldn't the dot after "majordomo" be double escaped?

Yeah, that's obviously just an error in the documentation, but a mostly
harmless one, as "." matches the dot anyway...

Cc-ing the ding list.

  Štěpán

Re: Error in (info "(gnus)Splitting Mail")

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Štěpán Němec <stepnem@gmail.com> writes:

>>      ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@majordomo.com")
>>
>> So shouldn't the dot after "majordomo" be double escaped?
>
> Yeah, that's obviously just an error in the documentation, but a mostly
> harmless one, as "." matches the dot anyway...

It's more readable without the \\, and the chance for false positives is
minuscule, so I think I'll just leave it as is.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: Error in (info "(gnus)Splitting Mail")

[Tommy Kelly]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Štěpán Němec <stepnem@gmail.com> writes:
>
>>>      ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@majordomo.com")
>>>
>>> So shouldn't the dot after "majordomo" be double escaped?
>>
>> Yeah, that's obviously just an error in the documentation, but a mostly
>> harmless one, as "." matches the dot anyway...
>
> It's more readable without the \\, and the chance for false positives is
> minuscule, so I think I'll just leave it as is.

So: 

The person who wrote the stuff, understands it in intense
detail without the documentation, and therefore has little or no need
of the documentation thinks the documentation is more readable as it is.

The person who is trying to learn the stuff, and must rely heavily on
said documentation thinks the documentation would be more readable with a
a minor fix.

Hmmm.

:-)

Tommy

Re: Error in (info "(gnus)Splitting Mail")

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Sat, 18 Dec 2010 16:33:47 -0600 Tommy Kelly <tommy.kelly@verilab.com> wrote: 

TK> The person who wrote the stuff, understands it in intense
TK> detail without the documentation, and therefore has little or no need
TK> of the documentation thinks the documentation is more readable as it is.

TK> The person who is trying to learn the stuff, and must rely heavily on
TK> said documentation thinks the documentation would be more readable with a
TK> a minor fix.

Štěpán was noting a minor issue: if mail comes from majordomoXcom (any
single character) instead of majordomo.com, it will match that splitting
rule.  I don't think Štěpán suggested it would make the documentation
more readable to fix that.

Ted

Re: Error in (info "(gnus)Splitting Mail")

[Štěpán Němec]

Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:

> On Sat, 18 Dec 2010 16:33:47 -0600 Tommy Kelly <tommy.kelly@verilab.com> wrote: 
>
> TK> The person who wrote the stuff, understands it in intense
> TK> detail without the documentation, and therefore has little or no need
> TK> of the documentation thinks the documentation is more readable as it is.
>
> TK> The person who is trying to learn the stuff, and must rely heavily on
> TK> said documentation thinks the documentation would be more readable with a
> TK> a minor fix.
>
> Štěpán was noting a minor issue: if mail comes from majordomoXcom (any
> single character) instead of majordomo.com, it will match that splitting
> rule.  I don't think Štěpán suggested it would make the documentation
> more readable to fix that.

I think Tommy's and Lars's notion of "readable" is slightly incompatible
here. In my opinion the error (yes, IMO it _is_ an error) should be
fixed at least for the reason this whole thread started -- it induced
major confusion for Tommy, who, upon seeing the unescaped dot, began to
wonder if there was some magic going on with the fancy splitting rules.

(Yes, it's funny to have discussions about things like this, but not
having sloppy examples in the docs is precisely the way to prevent such
discussions.)

  Štěpán

Re: Error in (info "(gnus)Splitting Mail")

[Tommy Kelly]

Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:

> On Sat, 18 Dec 2010 16:33:47 -0600 Tommy Kelly <tommy.kelly@verilab.com> wrote: 
>
> TK> The person who wrote the stuff, understands it in intense
> TK> detail without the documentation, and therefore has little or no need
> TK> of the documentation thinks the documentation is more readable as it is.
>
> TK> The person who is trying to learn the stuff, and must rely heavily on
> TK> said documentation thinks the documentation would be more readable with a
> TK> a minor fix.
>
> Štěpán was noting a minor issue: if mail comes from majordomoXcom (any
> single character) instead of majordomo.com, it will match that splitting
> rule.  I don't think Štěpán suggested it would make the documentation
> more readable to fix that.

You're right. Štěpán explained the thing to me and then flagged it to
The Documenters. *I* am suggesting that Štěpán's flagging was useful and
that, contrary to Lars's view, the proposed fix is worthwhile and makes
things more readable[1]. 

And my underlying point was that while Lars is an undoubted expert in
Gnus, *I* am an expert in being a new and clueless user of it.  The
documentation has an intended core audience, and it ain't Lars.

So Štěpán's point was one of regexp structure; mine, one of pedagogy.

All that said. I'm new here and have invested a mere fraction of the
hours in this project that y'all have. So don't hesitate to pat me on
the head and say "Shhhh! The grown-ups are speaking." :-)

Tommy

[1] Or rather, it makes it more consistent and understandable --
a.k.a. better. I'm with everyone else in that adding toothpicks rarely
makes for improved *read*-ability. But that -- toothpicks (and (to
further make the (undoubtedly made (albeit obliquely) by now) point)
parens) -- is the life we have chosen for ourselves.

Re: Error in (info "(gnus)Splitting Mail")

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Sun, 19 Dec 2010 09:53:14 -0600 Tommy Kelly <tommy.kelly@verilab.com> wrote: 

TK> All that said. I'm new here and have invested a mere fraction of the
TK> hours in this project that y'all have. So don't hesitate to pat me on
TK> the head and say "Shhhh! The grown-ups are speaking." :-)

Nah, that would be condescending.  We do passive-aggressive :)

Seriously, your feedback is appreciated.  You have invested a lot of
time fighting features and jargon that are implied or learned for many
of the Gnus regulars, so your experience helps us.  If we don't respond
or fix things quickly (speaking for myself) it's for lack of time, not
desire to help.

Ted