Re: cond*

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

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  > In contrast, this cond* form:

  >    (symbolp x)

  > looks like a normal expression calling the function `symbolp'; 

This is in the match* construct, whose operands are never Lisp
expressions.  Just as inaide pcase, people will understand these are
different.  People will be accustomed to seeing cond* patterns there,
just as people who use ocase are accustomed to seeing pcase patterns
there.

    and, in a 
  > sense, it is, because that will happen.

No, that's not quite correct.  What it does is test the value there in
the data to see if it is symbolp, and if so, the match will bind x to
that symbol.

It is similar to what happens if the pattern is just

   x

You're working hard to convince people that they they will dislike
cond*.  But that is not a usefu thing to do.  Soon people will have a
chance to play with cond* and see what they think.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)