To add my experience to this - I went to long pull levers unintentionally when I bought a pair of used levers for the huge hoods I could wrap all my fingers under. Handles for out of the saddle climbing on the fix gear of my photo. Put Shimano dual pivot calipers n the bike. (Bought used and I still don't know what model.) First ride - love these handles! And braking is rather different. No modulation in the lever handle, but lots in the effect of hand squeeze force. Well, 6 months later I rode the bike up and down McKenzie Pass. Up on a 42-23. Down on a 12 tooth. That was a blast! Until I came to a blind corner that was far tighter. Grabbed two fistfuls of brake hard like my life depended on it. (No way my pedal was making that corner!) And to my surprise, nothing happened; except I slowed down a whole bunch and made the corner easily. No skidding. And I was sold. OK, braking from the tops is harder and less effective. But from the drops? Real stoppers using all the tires had to offer. Far better than any dual pivots and regular levers I'd ever ridden. More like an old Mafac setup except instead of modulating lever travel, I was now modulating lever pressure.

I've changed out that first V-brake lever set for modern Tekro (much better thought out and easier to work on) and put them on my other dual pivot bike and my canti bike. Only bikes with regular levers are my two Mafac bikes. This does mean that I ride more often in the drops, especially in traffic or marginal conditions. Much like I was told to by my club's veterans when I started racing; long before the '00s love of life on brifters started. (This also means "throwback thinking" re: braking with other riders behind me. When I raced my Grand Compe equipped Fuji in the '70s I kept in mind the Campy riders behind me (that was virtually everybody) didn't have my stopping power.)

I love good stopping power. And the secret isn't braking force, it is control.

And to identifying which is which, regular pull vs long pull - not perfect, but the clues are - super long hoods; probably long pull. Squeeze thew laver and look in. Cable comes to the lever top? Long pull. You have to reach in a bit to install that new cable end - short pull. And as said above, it's a range, not a hard and fast rule.
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Edit: I just wish cars were so simple. My Prius would be a much better stopper with me driving if I would swap out the brake pedal for long-pull. I learned to drive in a Willys Jeep. First car a '71 VW bus. The Prius braking is so sensitive I should be driving barefoot.