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From: Luc Teirlinck <teirllm@dms.auburn.edu>
Subject: listp docstring.
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:31:02 -0600 (CST)	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <200601300431.k0U4V2a03419@raven.dms.auburn.edu> (raw)

I do not exactly want to start another thread of the car/cdr type.
But the docstring of listp _really_ can be unclear _even_ for people
who know Lisp.  The current docstring is:

Return t if object is a list.  This includes nil.

But "list" is ambiguous: its strict meaning, intended here, is
"cons cell or nil".  But it is very often used informally in the sense
of "true list", including in some other docstrings.  The car/cdr
thread has shown that there really is some potential confusion here,
since many people do understand list as "true list".

What about the following docstring, which I can install if desired:

Return t if OBJECT is a list, that is, a cons cell or nil.
Otherwise, return nil.

Sincerely,

Luc.

             reply	other threads:[~2006-01-30  4:31 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2006-01-30  4:31 Luc Teirlinck [this message]
2006-01-30  4:54 ` listp docstring Luc Teirlinck
2006-01-30 23:25 ` Richard M. Stallman

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