I apologize for weighing in on the R shorthand thread by sending a new message. I read the digest and normally reply to messages by gmane. However, for some unknown reason, "R shorthand" seems to be missing entirely from gmane. It exists in the archives on lists.gnu.org.
My opinion (as a somewhat-more-than-casual Lilypond user, and as a contributor to another music software package [SuperCollider]): Any change in syntax that will break prior usage should be considered very, very carefully to be sure the gains are worth it. The proposal is: - Old: R2 == a full measure rest in 2/4 time - New: R2 == *two* full measure rests in any time signature That breaks backward compatibility. I do agree with Kieren that it's annoying to have to enter durations for full measure rests, when the duration of the measure is known elsewhere. So I think some change, if possible, would be nice to have. I think Joram's suggestion, R*n, makes a lot more sense. It's related to the current syntax, just more convenient, and it doesn't break existing uses since the parser can distinguish among all of the following unambiguously: R2 (a full measure rest in 2/4 time) R2*2 (two full measure rests in 2/4 time) R*2 (two full measure rests in any meter) The fact that Kieren's original proposal would change the meaning of the number immediately after R raises a red flag for me -- breaking compatibility, confusing current users once they are forced to adapt to the new syntax -- and the only gain over the second proposal is to lose a * after R. That falls far short of the threshold to justify breaking existing syntax, IMO. I'm strongly against Kieren's original idea. I'm cautiously in favor of Joram's alternative. hjh _______________________________________________ lilypond-user mailing list lilypond-user@gnu.org https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user
