Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
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From: alderson@netcom.com (Richard M. Alderson III)
Subject: Re: Common Lisp's dual name space
In-Reply-To: markku@ctron.com's message of 2 Nov 1994 19:40:37 GMT
Message-ID: <aldersonCyo42C.7Et@netcom.com>
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	<Cxxwx0.1nC@rheged.dircon.co.uk> <Cy1H5H.5I8@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
	<38icti$132@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> <Cy8tty.6E2@rheged.dircon.co.uk>
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Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 01:27:47 GMT
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In article <398pvlINN6bu@dur-news.ctron.com> markku@ctron.com
(Markku Laukkanen) writes:

>In article <aldersonCyEAyM.5H3@netcom.com> alderson@netcom.com writes:

>>In article <38ofd8$set@edge.ercnet.com> Blake McBride <blake@edge.ercnet.com>
>>writes:

>>>This dual name space aspect of Common Lisp is my no. 1 complaint of Common
>>>Lisp.  Why the heck would someone do such a thing?

Hey!  Careful with the attributions, there.  You've deleted my entire response
to Mr. McBride's question, leaving the impression that it was mine.

>Of course if your REALLY what to have single namespace e.q. for functions
>(I don't see any rational explanation for wanting it) ,
>you can do something  like this

>(setf (macro-function 'real-defun) (macro-function 'defun))

>(defmacro defun (name &rest args)
> `(progn
>    (real-defun ,name ,@args)
>    (setq ,name (symbol-function ',name))))

I think that this would satisfy neither the True Believers in Lisp-1 nor the
Defenders of the Lisp-2 Faith...

Insert smileys as you see the need.
-- 
Rich Alderson   You know the sort of thing that you can find in any dictionary
                of a strange language, and which so excites the amateur philo-
                logists, itching to derive one tongue from another that they
                know better: a word that is nearly the same in form and meaning
                as the corresponding word in English, or Latin, or Hebrew, or
                what not.
                                                --J. R. R. Tolkien,
alderson@netcom.com                               _The Notion Club Papers_
