Re: Re* --creation-factor=100 does not show code

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Jul 29, 2022, 22:19 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqq5yjf4l60.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <85snn12q-po05-osqs-n1o0-n6040392q01q@tzk.qr>

Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de> writes:

> As to the original claim that percentages only go from 0-100, that is
> easily refuted. If you wanted to pay $12 for something but ended up having
> to pay $30, you'll end up having paid 150% more than planned. There you
> are. A percentage that is greater than 100.

Playing word games and nitpicks on what I said may have helped you stroke your ego and annoy other folks (including me) in the discussion, but unfortunately I do not think it is helping us get closer to improve either the documentation or behaviour of range-diff. Now, let's be a bit more constructive and find a way to unconfuse people like the original reporter?

When we say an option's value is expressed in <percent>, unless we are careful, people will assume that the valid value the option will take will lie between 0 and 100, and you cannot blame them. IOW, while the word "percent" may be 100% correct in your mind, the way it is used to describe the feature in "git range-diff --help", it was not sufficient to help readers.

If we were describing a hypothetical Git subcommand that shows a picture of a panda, with an option to show the picture in different sizes, perhaps "git panda --scale=<percent>" option is described like so:

	--scale=<percent>::
		Instead of showing the picture of a panda at its
		default size, show it scaled.  "--scale=50" means
		show it at 50%, i.e. half the width and height.
		"--scale=200" would show the picture at twice the
		width and height.

and such a description would make it plenty clear that the valid value range is not constrainted in 0..100. We'd need something similar to help users of "git range-diff".

Thanks.