Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!uunet!tektronix!reed!ogccse!littlei!omepd!merlyn
From: merlyn@intelob.biin.com (Randal L. Schwartz @ Stonehenge)
Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.bug
Subject: Re: comment-start should always be a string
Message-ID: <4030@omepd.UUCP>
Date: 5 Jan 89 17:58:26 GMT
References: <8901042305.AA26705@prep.ai.mit.edu>
Sender: news@omepd.UUCP
Reply-To: merlyn@intelob.biin.com (Randal L. Schwartz @ Stonehenge)
Organization: Stonehenge; netaccess via BiiN, Hillsboro, Oregon, USA
Lines: 23
In-reply-to: gildea@BBN.COM (Stephen Gildea)

In article <8901042305.AA26705@prep.ai.mit.edu>, gildea@BBN (Stephen Gildea) writes:
| Currently, comment-start is "*String to insert to start a new comment,
| or nil if no comment syntax defined."  This is a pain for simple
| routines that want to insert some text into a buffer, surrounded by
| comment delimiters.  It would be much more convenient if comment-start
| were always a string ("" if no comment syntax) and the test for
| whether there is a comment syntax be whether or not comment-start-skip
| is non-nil.

I disagree.  For one, I can use (not comment-start) as a test now to
see if a comment syntax is defined or not.  Also, if the behavior
you want is to *always* insert a string, try:

  (insert (or comment-start ""))

Looks pretty simple to me.
-- 
Randal L. Schwartz, Stonehenge Consulting Services (503)777-0095
on contract to BiiN Technical Information Services (for now :-),
in a former Intel building in Hillsboro, Oregon, USA.
<merlyn@intelob.biin.com> or ...!tektronix!inteloa[!intelob]!merlyn
SOME MAILERS REQUIRE <merlyn@intelob.intel.com> GRRRRR!
Standard disclaimer: I *am* my employer!