[Erc-help] Changes/fixes in erc-nets.el

[Jeremy Maitin-S. <jb...@at...>]

Hello,

Noticing the comment in erc-nets.el, the in-progress
`scoped' setting system (`erc-settings') seemed to be a good idea, so I
replaced `erc-get' with accessor functions that work.

Refer to the code in the attached file.  Note that I changed the format
of `erc-settings' to something that is both easier for the accessor
functions to deal with and also should be easier for users to deal
with.  Specifically, the old format was:

(VAR nil VALUE) ; applies to all networks
(VAR NETWORK VALUE) ; applies only to NETWORK
(VAR (NETWORK CHANNEL) VALUE) ; applies only to CHANNEL on NETWORK

The new accessor functions use this format:

(VAR VALUE) ; applies to all networks
(VAR VALUE NETWORK) ; applies only to NETWORK
(VAR VALUE NETWORK CHANNEL) ; applies only to CHANNEL on NETWORK

You will notice that the definitions of the accessor functions are
rather complicated, especially `erc-get-setting'; this is because it is
necessary to handle a large number of specific cases separately, and I
do not believe there is any elegant way of doing it.  Using a hash
table to store the settings (instead of a list) would greatly simplify
the definitions; but it is not clear that a sufficient number of
settings will be stored in this system that a hash table would be more
efficient.

I also use a case-insensitive string to specify the network rather than
a symbol.  I believe this is a better way of doing things.

Anyway, next on my list of stuff to tackle is `erc-macs.el'.  Perhaps
before integrating it `victim' should be replaced with `member', or
specifically, `erc-victims' changed to `erc-global-members' and
`erc-channel-victims' changed to `erc-channel-members'.  Conveniently,
the existing code uses the unqualified name `channel-members', and so
there is no conflict.