Re: [BUG] Highly inconsistent diff UI

Jonathan Nieder [off-list ref] writes:

Ramkumar Ramachandra wrote:

quoted

I thought ^@ was invented for scripting, but can't imagine a usecase for ^!.

I use "git diff $commit^!" from time to time to get the diff between a
merge and its first parent.

For comparison, I haven't found ^@ or "git log $commit^!" useful.  The
commit introducing the former says

| I needed it to do the multi-tree diff on Len's infamous 12-way
| Octopus; typing "diff --cc funmerge funmerge^1 funmerge^2 funmerge^3
| ..." was too painful.

which is spelled as "git show --cc funmerge" these days.

The more important part of the message comes before that part ;-)

    This might be just my shiny new toy that is not very useful in
    practice.  I needed it to do the multi-tree diff on Len's ...

So I was right --- from the very beginning, this was "let's add a
random cruft on a whim without thinking things through" as I said.

It is not satisfactory to be right in saying that "I am sure this
was a stupid mistake" X-<.