[no subject]

[Lab Manager(Brad Miller) <lab@rochester.arpa>]

Subject: What does LOAD use for read table & package?

    Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1986  00:31 EST
    Message-Id: <FAHLMAN.12187397057.BABYL@C.CS.CMU.EDU>
    Sender: FAHLMAN@C.CS.CMU.EDU
    From: "Scott E. Fahlman" <Fahlman@C.CS.CMU.EDU>
    To: "George J. Carrette" <GJC@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU>
    Cc: common-lisp@SU-AI.ARPA
    Subject: What does LOAD use for read table & package?
    In-Reply-To: Msg of 1 Mar 1986  08:29-EST from George J. Carrette <GJC at MC.LCS.MIT.EDU>

	You should not be so quick to say that the "-*-" shouldnt be used. It
	may be ugly but experience has shown that it works very well.

    ....

    But all of that is irrelevant to the point I was making.  Let me try
    again: There is no mention of "-*-" comments anywhere in the current
    definition of Common Lisp.  As far as Common Lisp is concerned,
    everything in a comment is ignored.  Any code that depends for its
    correct interpretation on the "-*-" not being ignored is not portable
    Common Lisp.  Therefore, depending on this construct to set up packages
    and the like should be avoided in code that is intended to be portable.
    That's what In-Package is for.

    -- Scott

I concur. -*- is fine if you want frozzbozzy things for your editor so it
need not actually 'read' lisp, but the lisp language certainly shouldn't
define it, nor depend on it.

Brad Miller