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Re: NAMED-LAMBDA and function cells
- To: MOON at SCRC-TENEX at MIT-MC, Killian at MIT-MULTICS
- Subject: Re: NAMED-LAMBDA and function cells
- From: Eric Benson <BENSON at UTAH-20>
- Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1982 18:26:00 -0000
- Cc: common-lisp at SU-AI
- In-reply-to: Your message of 12-Nov-82 1341-MST
If you like, this is another wart which has been retained in Common Lisp,
like (SYMBOLP ()). I think most of us would agree that the Scheme
approach is much more sensible, since it eliminates the "name vs. use"
problem, as in (:PROPERTY FOO BAR), etc. Like the () vs. NIL, this has
2 effects: confusing semantics and difficulty or inefficiency of
implementation. Too bad, but that's the price of compatibility with the
past.
P.S. Brian Smith's thesis should be required reading (at least browsing)
for all of us. I know we can't change Lisp too radically, but we should
be conscious of the kludges we are perpetuating.
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