Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > Thomas Rast <trast@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > >> Signed-off-by: Thomas Rast <trast@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> >> --- >> >> This is only the minimal update. I think in the long run, we should >> add a note saying why we support all of them. But off hand I didn't >> have any substantial evidence in favour of patience that could be used >> as an argument. > > Isn't the main argument made by proponents of patience diff is more > readable output, and not performance? That line of argument relies > on a fairly subjective test "which one is easier to read?", so it is > hard to come up with a substantial evidence, unless somebody invests > in A/B test. Well, I was just too lazy to look up what I dimly remembered people had posted at some point: examples where patience beats Myers for readability. E.g., http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/104316 I don't think you need a blind test to justify that the patience result is more readable. So I think in the long run, the docs should say something like: --diff-algorithm={histogram|myers|minimal|patience}:: Choose a diff algorithm. The variants are as follows: + -- histogram:: This is the fastest algorithm, and thus the default. myers:: The classical Myers diff algorithm. <state a reason why myers would be useful> minimal:: Like 'myers', but spend extra time making sure that the diff is the shortest possible for the set of changes performed. patience:: The patience diff algorithm, which first matches unique lines with each other. This sometimes results in more readable (if longer) patches than the other algorithms. -- Or whatever -- magic is required to have a nested list in asciidoc. I can't be bothered to twiddle with that right now. -- Thomas Rast trast@{inf,student}.ethz.ch -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html