Re: [PATCH] branch: delete now accepts '-' as branch name

From: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
Date: Feb 21, 2022, 19:20 UTC
Message-ID: <220221.86zgmk9g68.gmgdl@evledraar.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqwnhota5q.fsf@gitster.g>

On Mon, Feb 21 2022, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 25 quoted lines

> Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com> writes:
>
>>> Continuing the "thinking aloud" a bit, I _think_ this tells us these
>>> things:
>>>
>>>  * @{-1} has way too many letters to type to be liked by users, who
>>>    won't learn or remember what they do not appreciate (and do not
>>>    blame them---it is a bad notation).
>>>
>>>  * @{-<n>} may have been a generalized way that satisfied geeky mind
>>>    while being implemented, but the users only need the "last one"
>>>    and no such generalization.
>>>
>>> If it is too late for a more easy-to-type-and-pleasant-to-eyes
>>> notation, perhaps "@-", that does not have downsides of "-" or
>>> "@{-1}", I have to wonder.
>>
>> I too find the syntax really annoying to type.
>>
>> I wonder if we couldn't say that:
>> ...
>
> We could, but I do not think I like any of it, except for adding
> "@-".  We learned that we do not need @{-4} generalization and
> people only want "the last one" with nothing else.

FWIW I often use @{-2}, @{-3} or equivalent, but never @{-28} or whatever.

Not often.

But I would very much appreciate @u if it existed. I use @{u} a lot, and with the shift-key dancing it's a hassle to typ it.

> the same mistake without learning any from the lesson to take any
> random string that follows @ as if it is inside @{}, I am afraid.

I think we should be careful to squat on namespaces needlessly, but if we can't think of a reason for why we wouldn't make typing some of these shortcuts easier...

IOW can we think of a reason we'd ever use @1 @-1 or @u for anything else? It would be *very* confusing to add a new @{u} that behaved differently from @u, whatever such a @u would mean.

> P.S. It seems it is holiday around here and I hear it is at GitHub,
> too, so I expect the day to be slow and my presence may be sporadic.

*nod*