[no subject]

[Leigh L. Klotz <KLOTZ@MIT-OZ>]

I suppose I was a little off the handle in my response, but at the time
it seemed absurd to me that useful features should be flushed.  Now I
see that someone doesn't consider TAGS useful, so at least it's internally
consistent now...

I use TAGS in Zwei for two reasons:  To get functionality in editing
Lisp code not otherwise present in Zwei, and also for editing code
other than Lisp.  Presumably the DEFSYSTEM mechanism could subsume the
tags functions.  However, people still use Zwei for editing text that
isn't Lisp.

For instance, I used to use Zwei to edit the Logo source code, since
only in Zwei (or Multics EMACS) could I have two copies of the source.
PGS uses Zwei for editing the MINITS when he's working with the
LISPM/PUMA interface.  For these and similar applications, a common
TAGS database accessible by Zwei and EMACS is necessary.

Recently I wanted to search for all references to a certain variable and
alter them.  I could find no way to do this without Tags.  Looking for
all functions which send a certain message is a similar case.  The Zwei
Edit Callers function is not general enough for these occasions.

The Tags mechanism is well tested and understood.  Don't remove it, even
if you provide similar functionality for editing Lisp systems.  (Although
I would hail DEFSYSTEM versions of the various Tags functions.)

Leigh.