Name points during the construction of `line`.

[ElaysonAbreu]

Imagine situations like this:

#import "@preview/cetz:0.5.2"
#import cetz.draw: *

#cetz.canvas({
  hide(circle((2,0), name: "circle", radius: 1))
  line((1,0), (3,0), "circle.120deg", close: true)
  
  content((a: (1,0), number: 50%, b: (3,0)), [$a$], anchor: "north")
  content((a: (3,0), number: 50%, b: "circle.120deg"), [$b$], anchor: "south-west")
  content((a: "circle.120deg", number: 50%, b: (1,0)), [$c$], anchor: "south-east")
})

If I could name the points while creating line, I wouldn't have to repeat them in content. This could perhaps be achieved with a syntax like:

line((1,0).A, (3,0).B, "circle.120deg".C, close: true)

It is true that #let A = (1,0) #let B = (3,0) can solve this problem, but isn't the syntax I suggested feasible? Thanks in advance.

[johannes-wolf]

The proposed syntax is not feasible. But we could generate names or let the user supply a list of names. Either default to pt-<n> where n is the point index or support an argument like line(..., point-names: ("a", "b", "c")). What do you think?

[ElaysonAbreu]

It’s a good starting point. But it wouldn't be appropriate if the number of points in line is very large. Do I need more experience with the language across multiple drawings to tell if your suggestion is viable? Perhaps the syntax let A = (a,b) let B = (c,b) would be better? I don't know yet.

[johannes-wolf]

It’s a good starting point. But it wouldn't be appropriate if the number of points in line is very large. Do I need more experience with the language across multiple drawings to tell if your suggestion is viable? Perhaps the syntax let A = (a,b) let B = (c,b) would be better? I don't know yet.

Using let A = ... has the possible problem of resolving the coordinate A with different transformations. Letting line provide the resolved coordinates is the cleaner approach.

[ElaysonAbreu]

Sorry, I closed the issue unintentionally. I wasn't aware of what you said regarding transformations. In that case, using your suggestion might indeed be a good idea.