bug#45333: complex command history should not save optional nil parameters

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

> Ah, so you're not talking about advertised-calling-convention!?

No, I'm talking about the...  advertised calling convention.

> Basically, if we want to go there, we start to want to distinguish
> between:
> - the "final and pretty" advertized arglist
> - the "final and pretty" arglist but disregarding 
> advertised-calling-convention
> - the original arglist rather than the one stashed in the docstring.
> - the raw arglist seen by the interpreter.
> I doubt very many chunks of code will know which level to choose (and
> even fewer will have a good justification for that choice).

I think there's just two levels that are interesting.  We have the er
advertised calling convention (whether from
advertised-calling-convention or "(fn ...)"), and then the real, actual
for sure arglist.

The former is what `C-h f' and eldoc wants, and particularly for the
latter, it's a shame that it's so hard to get at -- i.e., opening .elc
files and chopping up doc strings etc.

The actual for sure arglist is needed when you want to redefine
functions and the like, and need to actually retain the interface in all
details, and today you have to look at the source code to do that, which
a self-documenting editor shouldn't need.  (But it's pretty rare to need
this, so it doesn't matter that it's slow.)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no