[wp-hackers] Why does wp_page_menu exist?

[Dan Gayle]

Why does wp_page_menu exist? The functionality is LESS than  
wp_list_pages. For example, what if one doesn't want to have sub-pages  
listed? You can't if you choose to use wp_page_menu. In fact, it  
provides half of the functionality of wp_list_pages, while only  
allowing the additional use of adding a link to the home page, which  
is easily done like this:

<ul id="navigation">
	<li><a href="<?php echo get_option('home'); ?>" rtitle="<?php  
bloginfo('name'); ?> Home Page">Home</a></li>
	<?php wp_list_pages('depth=1&sort_column=menu_order&title_li='); ?>
</ul>

So what was the reasoning behind adding a totally new function, when  
simply adding an additional option to wp_list_pages would have done  
the trick?