Meta-issue

[Daniel L. Weinreb <DLW@SCRC-QUABBIN.ARPA>]

I'd like to make a point at the meta-level, i.e., about how we go about
evaluating Common Lisp clarification/redesign decisions.  A major goal
of Common Lisp was to allow portability of serious, large Lisp programs.
After all these years, we are finally seeing a few efforts to do develop
such portable software.  In all my time as a computer engineer, I have
found that experience from practical implementation efforts is
irreplacable, and "packs more punch" than speculative opinion in
general.  We should pay close attention to the experiences of KMP,
Gregor, and others if we seriously want to make Common Lisp useful for
serious portable software.