Distinguish SASS and CSS

[pchaigno]

This pull request makes SASS a language of its own, distinct from CSS.
This change was requested several times in #2933, #3084, #2585 and #2650.

[arfon]

...so if we do this then I think we need to consider making the same change for HAML, Handlebars etc. and many of the other languages that are currently grouped into some higher-level category.

My rationale for not doing this is that SASS is almost always used to generate CSS (please correct me if I'm wrong here) and so it makes sense (to me at least!) to have this listed under CSS for the general repository stats.

I would also note that this change doesn't affect search results/GitHub explore (trending repos by language). Languages such as SASS are already discoverable there.

Basically we can consider doing this if we really want to but it should be part of a much larger rethink of what Linguist languages groups are.

[controversial]

@arfon You're right that sass is almost always used to generate CSS. However, it has its own syntax which is quite different from that of CSS. Isn't your argument also true of many compiled languages? It contradicts what Linguist already does for some languages: CoffeeScript and JavaScript are separate in Github's eyes. SASS is to CSS as CoffeeScript is to JavaScript. There is about the same level of separation there.

[arfon]

Isn't your argument also true of many compiled languages? CoffeeScript and JavaScript are separate in Github's eyes. SASS is to CSS as CoffeeScript is to JavaScript. It's about the same level of separation.

It is, and I want to be clear that I'm not completely against this idea, I just think we need to make sure we've thought this through before we start removing group: files from languages.yml.

@controversial I'd be curious to hear what problem you're trying to solve with this change? Is this a UI concern of the language bar on the repo or something else?

[controversial]

@arfon That's basically it, I'd like my repo to show in the top bar that it's styled with SASS instead of CSS. It's not a big deal, but I think it'd be better. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[Alhadis]

If CoffeeScript is recognised as its own language, then Sass should too. Otherwise, we may as well be categorising the former as "JavaScript" as well.

[controversial]

Please?

[arfon]

@arfon That's basically it, I'd like my repo to show in the top bar that it's styled with SASS instead of CSS. It's not a big deal, but I think it'd be better. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry for the delayed reply here. I'm not comfortable merging this until we've taken a good look at all grouped languages. It's possible there is UI fix on GitHub that would address this more satisfactorily.

[controversial]

Ok. Makes sense, I guess.

On Sat, Jul 9, 2016 at 7:56 PM Arfon Smith [email protected] wrote:

@arfon https://github.com/arfon That's basically it, I'd like my repo
to show in the top bar that it's styled with SASS instead of CSS. It's not
a big deal, but I think it'd be better. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry for the delayed reply here. I'm not comfortable merging this until
we've taken a good look at all grouped languages. It's possible there
is UI fix on GitHub that would address this more satisfactorily.

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[nazar-pc]

Basically, the same story as #2978, where Jade/Pug is definitely not HTML

[controversial]

Any update? I'm once again back here after discovering that Slim and Jade are classified as HTML, not as separate languages. Seriously think this is a necessary change.

@arfon you say there might be a UI fix, but that sounds like something that's far, far less likely to happen, especially not in the short term. For now, do you still have a problem with separating out similar languages? You say

until we've taken a good look at all grouped languages

what does this entail? I'd really like to see some change soon.

Thanks,
Luke

[EmmaRamirez]

I feel like this PR should really be considered. SASS is quite a different extension of CSS.

It's also not particularly consistent--why is Smarty, for example, considered separate from PHP?

[ruchernchong]

Is this going to happen afterall?

[lukateras]

I'm not sure why there's grouping at all in the user interface, GitHub could just show each language as its own. Some grouping can be done if several files in group take very small percentage of repo's source code (as done with "Other"), but it'd be neat to distinct various preprocessors from the language they compile to.

[wangkanai]

Why would this be block?

[plibither8]

@arfon @Alhadis is it going to happen? It's been more that two years since the PR was opened

[pchaigno]

Arfon is not working on this project anymore, but as he said:

I'm not comfortable merging this until we've taken a good look at all grouped languages

I agree with him on this. But it takes a lot of time to do this kind of work.

[plibither8]

This might sound rather curt but I feel that two years is a lot of time. 😄 I'd love to help, if I can in any way.

[lildude]

This might sound rather curt but I feel that two years is a lot of time. 😄 I'd love to help, if I can in any way.

You're right it has been a long time, but sadly it's likely to a while longer as Linguist is currently not a priority for any team within GitHub… it is essentially running as a community maintained project with final approval from GitHub (required because it integrates directly into GitHub.com).

A change like degrouping needs to thought through thoroughly as it has been in place for a very long time and could have consequences elsewhere.

[Alhadis]

We shouldn't have to reconsider all grouped languages. Only the very obvious cases. Sass is no closer to CSS than CoffeeScript is to JavaScript.

[pchaigno]

This might sound rather curt but I feel that two years is a lot of time.

@plibither8 It is, but Linguist is not my main occupation. When I do have time to work on Linguist, I usually prioritize triaging potential bugs, reviewing pull requests, and longer term contributions that can help reduce the workload. So the present pull request is clearly not a priority.

To progress on this, we would first need to identify all candidates for degrouping. We can use your help on that.

We shouldn't have to reconsider all grouped languages. Only the very obvious cases. Sass is no closer to CSS than CoffeeScript is to JavaScript.

@Alhadis Careful, that could be seen as an argument to group CoffeeScript and JavaScript 😝

[Alhadis]

To progress on this, we would first need to identify all candidates for degrouping. We can use your help on that.

Should we open an issue for this?

[pchaigno]

@Alhadis You can if you want to start. I'll close this PR in favor of that issue in that case.

[Alhadis]

I've opened #4291 so we can discuss this matter in depth.

Let the bikeshedding begin!