Re: emacs-28 2c6a94c5b8: ; Correct the meaning of "cf." in tips.texi

[Stefan Kangas]

Štěpán Němec <stepnem@gmail.com> writes:

>     ; Correct the meaning of "cf." in tips.texi
>
>     Cf. e.g. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cf.
>
>     * doc/lispref/tips.texi (Documentation Tips): Correct the meaning of
>     "cf.".
> ---
>  doc/lispref/tips.texi | 2 +-
>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/doc/lispref/tips.texi b/doc/lispref/tips.texi
> index a3f49c19bc..eddbbfe8b9 100644
> --- a/doc/lispref/tips.texi
> +++ b/doc/lispref/tips.texi
> @@ -845,7 +845,7 @@ find an alternate phrasing that conveys the meaning.
>  @item
>  Try to avoid using abbreviations such as ``e.g.'' (for ``for
>  example''), ``i.e.'' (for ``that is''), ``no.'' (for ``number''),
> -``cf.'' (for ``in contrast to'') and ``w.r.t.'' (for ``with respect
> +``cf.'' (for ``compare''/``see also'') and ``w.r.t.'' (for ``with respect
>  to'') as much as possible.  It is almost always clearer and easier to
>  read the expanded version.@footnote{We do use these occasionally, but
>  try not to overdo it.}

I'm not sure about this change:

- I don't think "see also" is correct.

- In Bug#40011, I quote Writing for Computer Science by Justin Zobel
  (2004), which says:

    "It is often tempting to use abbreviations such as 'no.', 'i.e.',
    'e.g.' 'c.f.' and 'w.r.t.'  These save little space on the page,
    but slow readers down.  It is almost always desirable to expand
    these abbreviations, to 'number', 'that is', 'for example',
    'compared with' (or more accurately 'in contrast to', since that
    is the sense in which 'c.f.' should be used), and 'with respect
    to', or synonyms of these expressions.