Subject: Re: My guide to Lisp
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no>
Date: 24 Aug 2002 02:41:10 +0000
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3239145670302676@naggum.no>

* Christopher Browne
| In Lisp, reader macros are part of the 'base language,'
| http://www.cs.utsa.edu/research/AI/cltl/clm/node188.html, allowing you to
| integrate extensions in, and, if you define your own custom *READTABLE*,
| allowing you to build your own language parser.

  I think it is important to be aware that the syntax of Common Lisp is
  programmable and that the value of `*readtable*´ is not just some
  potentially extended syntax, it /is/ the syntax in which code is read.
  There is in fact no way to get around reader macros.  ( invokes a reader
  macro.

| In practice, it is usually used to provide relatively minor extensions.

  No, it is used to define the syntax of Common Lisp.

-- 
Erik Naggum, Oslo, Norway

Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder.
Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder.