Unfortunately, there isn’t a standard way to refer to functions with multiple arities in the documentation. That leads to inconsistencies: some places use an asterisk `fun/*` <https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/blob/master/lib/mix/lib/mix/config.ex#L15>; others a list of arities separated by comma `fun/1,2` <https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/blob/master/lib/elixir/test/elixir/string_test.exs#L29>; others a list of arities separated by slashes `fun/1/2 <https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/blob/master/lib/elixir/pages/Compatibility%20and%20Deprecations.md#table-of-deprecations>`; and others just the name of the function `fun` <https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/blob/master/lib/ex_unit/lib/ex_unit/case.ex#L24-L25> .
Moreover, ExDoc’s auto-linking does not work with any of those expressions <https://hexdocs.pm/ex_unit/ExUnit.Callbacks.html#on_exit/2>, loosing one of the features that I personally find really useful. In fact, that's how I was planning to encourage the usage of the agreed syntax. After inspecting the Elixir codebase, I’ve found that `fun/1,2` is the most popular expression, and that seems the format used in the Erlang documentation <http://erlang.org/doc/man/io_lib.html#fwrite-2>. I'll go with that. Regarding ExDoc, I would use the first arity to create the link (Erlang documentation seems to do the same). For example `Module.fun/1,2` would link to `Module.html#fun/1`; and `Module.fun/4,3` to `Module.html#fun/4`. I like this option because it allows developers to control were the link is going to point to. I’ve discarded the option of creating multiple anchors like `#fun/1,2` to avoid the combinatorial explosion of cases like `#fun/1,2,3,4`. As a final note, I'm not sure what to do regarding `fun/*` syntax. ExDoc could link to the function with lowest arity, but I would like to hear some opinions regarding that. Thoughts? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elixir-lang-core" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to elixir-lang-core+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elixir-lang-core/e29c4e5d-0696-4645-821e-b2cca45fc722%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
