On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 7:59 AM, Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I actually was hoping that it was obvious that -s is a no-starter from the
> messages so far in this thread, as neither --cached nor its more
> descriptive spelling --index-only has character 's' anywhere in it, and we
> have been keeping --staged as a low-key synonym for a reason.
It was not at all obvious. Even if you like --cached more than
--staged, there's a difference between advocating "--staged", and
using "-s" as a short-option for the operation which --cached /
--staged invoke.
Short option names are often a compromise, because clearly there are
often conflicts. That _doesn't_ mean that one should simply not have
a short option, when a "perfect" choice cannot be found. If a
"perfect" short-option isn't available, then usually one turns to
somewhat less perfect choices, trying to at least find some heuristic
that can make them easier to memorize -- because in the end, short
options must be memorized (and if they are truly common operations,
this isn't generally difficult; it's memorizing _rarely_ used short
options that's hard).
Of the various choices, "-s" does at least have such a heuristic
connection to an appropriate long option ("-i" is arguably worse than
-s, because it doesn't have any such connection...). Can you suggest
something better?
[BTW, isn't the name "--index-only" something of a misnomer? If
something is called "--XXX-only", that implies that the default
operation uses "XXX + something else" instead of XXX, but that
otherwise they are the same. However in fact the difference in
behavior resulting from --cached is more subtle: it changes _both_
sides of the diff (default: worktree<->index; --cached: index<->HEAD).
The names --cached and --staged actually capture this well -- they
basically say "the default is worktree changes, and --cached/--staged
diffs cached/staged changes instead" -- but the name "--index-only"
does not.]
-Miles
--
Cat is power. Cat is peace.
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