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The truth value returned by predicates
- To: Common-Lisp at SU-AI
- Subject: The truth value returned by predicates
- From: Eric Benson <BENSON at UTAH-20>
- Date: Wed, 03 Mar 1982 16:28:00 -0000
It seems to me that, except for those predicates like MEMBER which return a
specific value, the implementation should be allowed to return any handy
non-false value. This is inconsequential for microcoded implementations,
but could save a great deal in "stock hardware" versions. Whether or not
more predicates should return useful values, as Stallman suggests, is a
different matter. My feeling is "why not?" since programmers are free to
use this feature or not, as they see fit. I think that it might lead to
obscure code, but I wouldn't force my opinion on others if it doesn't
infringe on me. For the same reason, I think either option 1 or 2 for
NIL/() is reasonable. In fact, most opinions on this matter seem to be "I
prefer X but I can live with Y." Although I think () is cleaner, I'm
inclined to agree with Hedrick that it's not that much cleaner. It truly
pains me to go for the conservative option, but I just don't think there's
enough to gain by changing.
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