Write Antinews for Emacs 30 ELisp Reference
* doc/lispref/anti.texi (Antinews): * doc/lispref/elisp.texi (Top): Rewrite "Antinews" for Emacs 30.
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Eli Zaretskii
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@c This node must have no pointers.
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@node Antinews
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@appendix Emacs 28 Antinews
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@appendix Emacs 29 Antinews
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@c Update the elisp.texi Antinews menu entry with the above version number.
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For those users who live backwards in time, here is information about
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downgrading to Emacs version 28.2. We hope you will enjoy the greater
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downgrading to Emacs version 29.4. We hope you will enjoy the greater
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simplicity that results from the absence of many @w{Emacs
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@value{EMACSVER}} features.
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@itemize @bullet
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@item
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The implementation of overlays is back to its simple, time-proven
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storage in a pair of linear linked lists centered around some buffer
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position. No more fancy interval trees and suchlikes. Lisp programs
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that use overlays once again need to recenter overlays around the
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buffer position of interest, and display-related features should again
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make sure they don't use too many overlays in a buffer, lest redisplay
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will be too slow.
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Mouse wheel events once again follow the platform and window-system
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conventions: sometimes they are @code{wheel-up/down} and sometimes
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@code{mouse-4/5/6/7}. Lisp programs which use these should once again
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be aware of the conventions in effect and behave accordingly.
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@item
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Several functions stopped the annoying conversion of quotes and key
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sequences by no longer calling @code{substitute-command-keys}. One
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prominent example is @code{format-prompt} and all its many callers.
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This makes the strings they produce much more predictable, returning
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to you, the Lisp programmer, control on which punctuation characters
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will appear in the text presented to the users. For similar reasons,
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the @code{substitute-quotes} function was deleted.
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The command @code{describe-function} no longer distracts you by showing
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unnecessary details like the type of the function's object. Emacs
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hackers always know whether a function is a primitive, a native-compiled
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Lisp function, or any other kind. Stating the obvious simply wastes the
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precious screen estate; as you move into the past, and the typical
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dimensions of the screen become smaller, that waste is less and less
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justified. So we made the waste smaller.
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@item
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The venerable @code{buffer-modified-p} function again reliably returns
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either @code{nil} or @code{t}, not any other confusing values.
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The support for styled underline in face attribute was dropped. The
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simple underline should be enough; anything else is just code bloat and
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creeping featurism. Colorful underlines on TTY frames are no longer
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supported for the same reason.
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@item
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The support for @samp{medium} weight of fonts was dropped. Emacs now
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considers @samp{medium} and @samp{regular} weights to be the same. We
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believe this will simplify your font setup, since there's no longer a
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need to worry about fonts that support @samp{regular} weight, but not
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the @samp{medium} one, or vice versa: either one will do!
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IELM stopped recording its input history. You will no longer be annoyed
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by inputs from your past sessions; each session starts with a clean
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slate. What can be simpler and easier to remember?
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@item
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To reduce the amount of code in Emacs related to unimportant features,
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we've removed the function @code{compiled-function-p}. Lisp programs
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are expected to test explicitly for the relevant types of function
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objects: built-in, byte-compiled, and natively-compiled. For the same
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reasons we deleted the functions @code{pos-bol}, @code{pos-eol},
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@code{file-attribute-file-identifier}, and quite a few others. We
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don't expect anyone to miss those fancy functions.
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You can no longer disable JavaScript in xwidget Webkit sessions. Since
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xwidgets are going away in one of the previous Emacs versions, we
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decided to make this one step in that direction and get rid of this
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complication.
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@item
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The timeout used by @code{x-show-tip} can no longer be specified by
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Lisp programs; it is hard-coded in the function. This will lead to a
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simpler, easier maintained code, and no one should want to control the
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timeout after which the tip pops down.
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The @code{minibuffer-regexp-mode} was removed. Regular expressions are
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just strings, so no fancy mode should be needed for editing them.
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@item
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The macro @code{setopt} was deleted; use @code{customize-variable}
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instead, or invoke the @code{:set} function from Lisp.
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We removed the Compat package. Forward compatibility for ELPA packages
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becomes less and less important as you move back through time, and soon
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enough ELPA will disappear entirely. We decided it was prudent to start
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preparing for that now.
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@item
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We removed the @code{lisp-directory} variable, as the value can be
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easily deduced from other similar variables, like
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@code{installation-directory} and @code{source-directory}, each one
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when it's relevant.
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We are back to interpreting @code{\x} without any following hex digits
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as character code zero (@acronym{NUL}), as it always was in Emacs. The
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savings in typing due to this alone are enough to justify this
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simplification.
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@item
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To simplify code and reduce complexity, we deleted the functions
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@code{get-display-property} and @code{add-display-text-property}; use
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the generic @code{get-text-property} and @code{put-text-property}
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instead.
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To keep Emacs clean and elegant, we've removed the ability to show
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tooltips for fringe bitmaps. What important information cam be shown on
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the fringes, and why would it require tooltips to explain its purpose?
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We decided it isn't justified to keep this in past versions of Emacs.
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@item
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Support for pinch input events and for modern drag-and-drop
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functionality on X was dropped. As you move back in time, these
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facilities will become less and less important, and will soon enough
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disappear, so there's no reason to keep them in Emacs.
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Fancy sorting-related facilities, like the @code{value<} function and
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keyword arguments for @code{sort}, were deleted as too complex. The
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basic @code{sort} function should all that's needed in the years to go.
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@item
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To keep Emacs clean and elegant, we've removed the @file{textsec.el}
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library, with its facilities for checking whether some text is
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``suspicious''. We consider our users smart enough to detect
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maliciously modified text by just looking at it or by moving the
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cursor across it, and the whole idea that someone would wish to
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deliberately deceive Emacs users ridiculous and unworthy of
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complicating our elegant text-processing and display capabilities.
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Features related to the inheritance graph of major modes were deemed
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unnecessary and thus were dropped. This includes
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@code{provided-mode-derived-p}, @code{derived-mode-add-parents}, and
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others. We decided that untangling the mode inheritance relationships
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by hand facilitates more clear code and makes the intent evident.
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@item
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The functions @code{keymap-set}, @code{keymap-global-set},
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@code{keymap-local-set}, @code{keymap-substitute},
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@code{keymap-lookup}, and some others were deleted. We have found the
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traditional @code{define-key}, @code{global-set-key},
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@code{local-set-key}, @code{substitute-key-definition}, and
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@code{key-binding} more than enough, and their minor inconsistencies
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in the syntax of keys they accept a source of endless fun in Emacs
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Lisp programming. Why make Emacs programming a dull place? For the
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same reasons we deleted @code{key-valid-p}, since we consider the
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permissive nature of @code{kbd} more in the spirit of Emacs Lisp.
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We removed unnecessary functionality for handling touch screen events,
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as touch screens gradually disappear from view as you move back in time.
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There's no need to keep obsolete these new inventions in the past.
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@item
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Yanking of anything but plain text from other applications becomes
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more and more an unnecessary feature as you move back in time, so we
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dropped support for pasting media like HTML and images via the
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clipboard. If you @i{really} need to yank those into an Emacs buffer,
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you can go via a disk file.
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Various new functions and variables for moving and transposing sexps and
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for moving by program statements were dropped as unnecessary. The
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original commands that move by balanced expressions are more than
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enough.
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@item
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We removed unnecessary functions @code{string-pixel-width} and
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@code{string-glyph-split}, as we consider it inappropriate for Lisp
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programs to do display layout calculations, where these functions come
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in handy. Display is for the display engine, written in C, and should
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stay there!
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We deleted some fancy @code{declare} forms for functions, such as
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@code{ftype}. Emacs Lisp is not a string-typed language, which makes
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these declarations anathema. The types @code{closure} and
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@code{interpreted-function} are gone for the same reason: no need to
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distinguish types of Lisp functions.
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@item
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Various new Xwidget functions, such as
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@code{xwidget-perform-lispy-event}, @code{xwidget-webkit-load-html},
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and @code{xwidget-webkit-back-forward-list}, were deleted as part of
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our continuing effort to gradually delete the entire Xwidget
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functionality in some previous release of Emacs.
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The byte compiler stopped issuing warnings about practices some purists
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consider questionable. This includes warnings about missing
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@code{lexical-binding} cookies, empty bodies of special forms and
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macros, comparison with literals, @code{condition-case} without
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handlers, mutation of constants, and some others. As time moves into
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the past, the typical Emacs hacker knows best what's correct code and
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what isn't, and thus these warnings become useless annoyances. Good
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riddance!
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@item
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Setting the @code{:stderr} property of a process in a
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@code{make-process} call once again forces the process's connection to
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use pipes, not ptys, for all the standard streams --- a considerable
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simplification of this complex interface.
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@item
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To keep the amount of Lisp functions from growing out of control, we
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deleted @code{string-equal-ignore-case}. Use @code{compare-strings}
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instead.
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Several features that complicated the byte compiler have been removed:
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@itemize @minus
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@item
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The warnings about quoting mistakes in documentation strings. You are
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expected to find such mistakes yourself, by eyeballing the resulting
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@file{*Help*} buffer display.
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@item
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The warnings about malformed @code{defcustom} types, like
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double-quoting symbols in @code{choice} lists.
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@end itemize
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@item
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The macro @code{with-buffer-unmodified-if-unchanged} was deleted.
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Lisp programs that need to leave the buffer unmodified in these cases
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can always compare the text before and after the modifications.
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@item
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The functions @code{string-edit} and @code{read-string-from-buffer}
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were removed, as we consider the fun of programming them anew every
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time an important part of the education of each Emacs Lisp developer.
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@item
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We deleted the function @code{readablep} and the related variable
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@code{print-unreadable-function}, since no one is supposed to want to
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print unreadable Lisp objects.
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@item
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The facility for storing multisession variables was deleted as an
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unnecessary complication. With it are gone @code{multisession-value},
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@code{define-multisession-variable}, and
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@code{list-multisession-values}.
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@item
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The support for the @code{cursor-face} text property was dropped. We
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consider the rest of the faces adequate for supporting this
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functionality.
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@item
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The function @code{tooltip-show} dropped support for optional face
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arguments @code{text-face} and @code{default-face} that allow fancy
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control of the face of the tip text and top frame colors. We decided
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that tooltips should all look the same, to prevent user confusion.
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The @code{obarray} type is gone. Obarrays are back to their original
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representation as vectors. Each removed Lisp data type makes Emacs
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simpler and easier to use, so this is a welcome deletion.
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@item
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As part of the ongoing quest for simplicity, many other functions and
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@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ To view this manual in other formats, click
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Appendices
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* Antinews:: Info for users downgrading to Emacs 28.
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* Antinews:: Info for users downgrading to Emacs 29.
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* GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation.
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* GPL:: Conditions for copying and changing GNU Emacs.
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* Tips:: Advice and coding conventions for Emacs Lisp.
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