Re^3: I want site documentation updates and I want them now.

Why should perldoc links enjoy special status? I much more often link to module documentation so that is what should have special status isn't it?

Actually it looks like a little code could disambiguate between these two cases. But how many other contenders for special link status are there? DWIM is fine where there is a clear "best guess" at the intended behaviour, but quickly becomes nasty when too much second guessing is involved. In this case I think typing 6 extra characters for most links is a very minor burden compared with an extra iteration or two of the preview/edit cycle when links don't DWIM.

DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel

Comment on Re^3: I want site documentation updates and I want them now.

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Re^4: I want site documentation updates and I want them now. by Juerd (Abbot) on Dec 11, 2006 at 22:45 UTC
Why should perldoc links enjoy special status? I much more often link to module documentation so that is what should have special status isn't it? Module namespace is in flux, while the perldoc list remains mostly static. This makes schemaless use very hard. I agree that it would be very nice to have easier links. Perhaps `[[foo]]` would be a solution, where this always links to documentation. perldoc.perl.org if the document is known to exist there, search.cpan.org/perldoc?foo otherwise. http://tnx.nl/foo already implements something like that. DWIM is fine where there is a clear "best guess" at the intended behaviour, but quickly becomes nasty when too much second guessing is involved. "perlop" and friends can be guessed with certainty, so that's not a problem. In this case I think typing 6 extra characters for most links is a very minor burden It's not that 6 characters by itself is a lot of work. It's that it changes the way one edits the line, which is especially relevant in the chatterbox, but no less important in normal writeups. The schema moves the link out of the realm of punctuation, into something that requires a conscious decision. Juerd # { site => 'juerd.nl', do_not_use => 'spamtrap', perl6_server => 'feather' }	[reply] [d/l]

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Re^4: I want site documentation updates and I want them now.
by Juerd (Abbot) on Dec 11, 2006 at 22:45 UTC

Why should perldoc links enjoy special status? I much more often link to module documentation so that is what should have special status isn't it?

Module namespace is in flux, while the perldoc list remains mostly static. This makes schemaless use very hard. I agree that it would be very nice to have easier links.

Perhaps [[foo]] would be a solution, where this always links to documentation. perldoc.perl.org if the document is known to exist there, search.cpan.org/perldoc?foo otherwise. http://tnx.nl/foo already implements something like that.

DWIM is fine where there is a clear "best guess" at the intended behaviour, but quickly becomes nasty when too much second guessing is involved.

"perlop" and friends can be guessed with certainty, so that's not a problem.

In this case I think typing 6 extra characters for most links is a very minor burden

It's not that 6 characters by itself is a lot of work. It's that it changes the way one edits the line, which is especially relevant in the chatterbox, but no less important in normal writeups. The schema moves the link out of the realm of punctuation, into something that requires a conscious decision.

Juerd # { site => 'juerd.nl', do_not_use => 'spamtrap', perl6_server => 'feather' }

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