Re: Add some aliases for re-related functions

[Stefan Monnier]

> On 1991-07-25, Jim Blandy introduced the alias `search-forward-regexp'
> for `re-search-forward'.

Oh, right, I hate that alias.

> Why?  Lost in the mists of time.  Possibly for the same reasons people
> are advancing now - make all the search functions begin with "search-"
> for supposed easier searching (of their names).

Could be.  I always assumed it was meant for M-x use (i.e. for
non-programmer users) rather than for use in Elisp code.

> Or `delete-backward-char' and its alias `backward-delete-char'.  We have,
> respectively, 5 and 36 uses.  To me, this is just confusion, whatever the
> original reason was for these aliases.

I can also come up with bad examples.  I don't think it makes it
undesirable to add aliases.  Rather it argues for making sure you don't
forget to mark one of the two as obsolete.


        Stefan