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From: Don Geddis <d...@geddis.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp,comp.emacs,gnu.emacs.help
Subject: Re: lisp style question
Date: Sun, 05 Dec 2010 15:17:39 -0800
Organization: http://don.geddis.org/
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For anyone lurking: Katalin sent this post to me also by email, so I
replied by email, not realizing that it was also posted to the
newsgroups.

I won't bother the newsgroups by posting my email reply.

        -- Don
_______________________________________________________________________________
Don Geddis                  http://don.geddis.org/               d...@geddis.org

Katalin Sinkov <lispstyl...@gmail.com> wrote on Sun, 5 Dec 2010 :
> On Dec 4, 4:05 pm, Don Geddis <d...@geddis.org> wrote:
>> Katalin Sinkov <lispstyl...@gmail.com> wrote on Thu, 2 Dec 2010 :
>>
>> > what is "setf" and how to write it in terms of the elementary
>> > functions, car/cdr/cons/quote/cond/atom/eq ?
>>
>> Unlike your subject line, this is no longer a "lisp style" question.
>
>> That's fine, but before asking "style" questions, you ought to learn
>> some lisp.  Get an introductory tutorial (there are good free ones
>> online!), try some examples.  After you learn a bit of lisp, and can
>> write simple programs, perhaps then you can come back with some style
>> questions.
>
> OK, I read the papers by McCarthy and the evaluator.
>
>> You just don't know lisp.
>
> Do you know lisp ? Do you even know how to fork off another thread if
> that is your issue with the heading ? Also, style cannot be decoupled
> from skill of language. Even if you learnt all the C, you could not
> write a C++ style virtual class in it unless you had the skill. The
> most you would be able to achieve would be methods with function
> pointers.
>
>> Oh, and by the way: the functions your listed are not "the elementary
>> functions" (lisp has lots of functions, and there is no unique
>> elementary subset); nor can SETF be written in terms of the ones you
>> listed.
>
> But you have one set provided to you on silver plate to use. Must I
> provide you with all of them before you will activate your neuron and
> lift your finger to explain how setf is implemented ?
>
> HTH