Re: Weird shallow-tree conversion state, and branches of shallow trees

[Andy Parkins <andyparkins@gmail.com>]

On Sunday 2007 April 15 21:51, Linus Torvalds wrote:

> > Now, I print out that diagram and pin it to my wall - sometimes copies
> > of it are given to others.  I do this on a regular basis.
>
> And is there *any* reason why you don't just do that as an "export"
> option, when it's very clear that people won't send diffs that include it

Of course there is a reason - the file I edit is the SVG itself, in inkscape 
while editing that file I press "print" to get a print out.  Why on earth 
would I want to jump through hoops by closing the file I'm editing, running 
some export script to a temporary file that I don't want, then open up 
Inkscape again, check the export looks okay and then print - on what planet 
is /that/ simpler?  Worse, there is more chance that I'll lose changes once 
there are two copies of the same file floating around.  Which one am I 
editing and which one am I printing?  Have I run the script yet?  When I 
accidentally make changes to the wrong one, I've now got to merge those 
changes by hand back to the file they should have been in in the first place.

> It's not a valid use because there are many SO MUCH BETTER WAYS to get the
> same thing, that have none of the downsides of keyword expansion?

I'm sorry, but we have different definitions of SO MUCH BETTER; it is _more_ 
trouble for me the user to have to run scripts just to print the file that is 
already on my screen, than not.

> Your argument is akin to saying that "Why isn't it a valid use to replace
> the steering wheel in my car with a mouth-operated joystick under the
> passenger side seat?"

I'd actually say that that is your argument - you want me to add steps to a 
process to get the same result.  I just want the steering wheel, you want the 
steering wheel plus script that I run first to install the steering wheel and 
correctly adapt it for the current car.  In my version the process is "I 
press print"; the fact that is hard for the version control system is 
irrelevant - the whole point of tools like git is to do work for me, not the 
other way around.

> The fact that you *can* do something is not a valid argument for it being
> a valid use. You *can* do stupid things, but if you can get to the same
> end result by not doing stupid things, wouldn't you prefer that instead?

It's not an accurate analogy at all.  Your conclusion is your supposition - 
it's stupid because it's stupid.  I don't understand what the huge problems 
are - all you've done is say again that it's a problem to have keyword 
expansion.  Why?  What problem does it actually cause?

I'm not just being argumentative - I still have not understood what terrible 
evil it is that keyword expansion causes but crlf conversion does not.



Andy

-- 
Dr Andy Parkins, M Eng (hons), MIET
andyparkins@gmail.com