Re: \compoundMeter with a single fraction

My idea is to treat that as equivalent to 2,3/8 -> '(2 (3 . 8)) and let the
function figure out how to interpret it. If the + is objectionable syntax
because of confusion with infix arithmetic, a comma could be used instead
just like we do for integer lists. Personally I wouldn't have an issue with
the use of + as a separator given that Lilypond doesn't use infix
arithmetic syntax in any user-facing context. But I can also understand why
it might be confusing. And I concede that + as a separator isn't applicable
to other uses. Allowing fractions in comma separated lists on the other
hand seems quite useful.

Saul

On Tue, Jan 28, 2025 at 7:11 PM David Kastrup <[email protected]> wrote:

> Saul Tobin <[email protected]> writes:
>
> >> On Tue, Jan 28, 2025 at 6:18 PM David Kastrup <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Saul Tobin <[email protected]> writes:
> >>>
> >>> > I think merging \compoundMeter into \time as a single command would
> be
> >>> > great. IMO an even bigger improvement would be to support compound
> meters
> >>> > without requiring Scheme syntax. The parser already supports
> >>> > comma-separated integer lists and dot-separated symbol lists. How
> feasible
> >>> > would it be to support arguments to \time (or to music functions
> generally)
> >>> > of the form 3/8+2/4 or 2+3/8?
> >>>
> >>> Nightmarish?
> >>>
> >>> Don't really see anything that would generalize sensibly.
> >>>
> >>> In particular since you likely want the above to be (3/8)+(2/4) vs
> (2+3)/8.
> >
> > In terms of the parser, wouldn't it just entail treating + as a separator
> > and allowing a list of (fraction | integer)?
> >
> > Interpreting that data as a time signature I would think isn't
> > too different from what compoundMeter does already.
> >
> > Maybe I'm missing some hidden pitfalls.
>
> What about 2+3/8 ?  What about the whole "+ is not really addition"
> concept?  This gives a whole lot of garbage unexpected meanings.  For
> the sake of a single infrequent command.
>
> --
> David Kastrup
>