From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: e and pi Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 12:01:05 +0200 Message-ID: <83hbhnz7z2.fsf@gnu.org> References: <8739t9xpt2.fsf@stupidchicken.com> <874odoweqm.fsf@stupidchicken.com> Reply-To: Eli Zaretskii NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1284804074 13961 80.91.229.12 (18 Sep 2010 10:01:14 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 10:01:14 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Helmut Eller Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Sep 18 12:01:13 2010 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OwuEL-0007L6-Eg for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 18 Sep 2010 12:01:13 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:59248 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1OwuEJ-0004wj-Fp for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 18 Sep 2010 06:01:11 -0400 Original-Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=43403 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1OwuEB-0004wR-5y for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 18 Sep 2010 06:01:04 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OwuE9-0004ju-RC for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 18 Sep 2010 06:01:03 -0400 Original-Received: from mtaout21.012.net.il ([80.179.55.169]:44814) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OwuE9-0004jW-KR for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 18 Sep 2010 06:01:01 -0400 Original-Received: from conversion-daemon.a-mtaout21.012.net.il by a-mtaout21.012.net.il (HyperSendmail v2007.08) id <0L8X00200SRS3800@a-mtaout21.012.net.il> for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 18 Sep 2010 12:00:59 +0200 (IST) Original-Received: from HOME-C4E4A596F7 ([77.126.210.149]) by a-mtaout21.012.net.il (HyperSendmail v2007.08) with ESMTPA id <0L8X001ZET5MYB60@a-mtaout21.012.net.il>; Sat, 18 Sep 2010 12:00:59 +0200 (IST) In-reply-to: X-012-Sender: halo1@inter.net.il X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Solaris 10 (beta) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:130386 Archived-At: > From: Helmut Eller > Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010 18:18:25 +0200 > > > (defun froob (argv) > > (lambda (f) (cons f argv))) > > > > and have that fail, because "argv" is a defvar defined in startup.el. > > I once had a function with an argument called system-name. Suddenly > Emacs started to complain that some files are locked by some other user. > How many people now that system-name is a global variable and used by > the file-locking code? The lesson is that Emacs should not pre-define > global variables with names that are likely candidates for local > variables. What you describe as a big surprise is actually known to every C/C++ programmer: some names are "reserved by the implementation" and should not be used by the application code.