From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Gregor Zattler Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: why not "stripes" in: (let ((zebra 'stripes) ... ; strings vs symbols? Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2013 15:23:32 +0100 Message-ID: <20131229142332.GA7972@boo.workgroup> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1388327090 18042 80.91.229.3 (29 Dec 2013 14:24:50 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2013 14:24:50 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Dec 29 15:24:52 2013 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1VxHIQ-0005FQ-EV for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 29 Dec 2013 15:24:50 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:55412 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VxHIP-0005sT-RZ for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 29 Dec 2013 09:24:49 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:40802) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VxHI8-0005sI-UK for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 29 Dec 2013 09:24:40 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VxHHw-0003GA-O5 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 29 Dec 2013 09:24:32 -0500 Original-Received: from mout.gmx.net ([212.227.15.18]:60285) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VxHHw-0003F2-F4 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 29 Dec 2013 09:24:20 -0500 Original-Received: from boo.workgroup ([87.187.187.112]) by mail.gmx.com (mrgmx003) with ESMTPSA (Nemesis) id 0Lfjxq-1Ve7pY0VgI-00pMUt for ; Sun, 29 Dec 2013 15:24:18 +0100 Original-Received: from grfz by boo.workgroup with local (Exim 4.82) (envelope-from ) id 1VxHHe-0002nJ-VH; Sun, 29 Dec 2013 15:24:03 +0100 Mail-Followup-To: help-gnu-emacs Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) X-Provags-ID: V03:K0:R3w+fvs/5cMQnfgykJZ1r9/BzsxSUYiRaMHIvgXBRRSighL+34q lLeaxef/d0NfccDNjMCtvOxnbR2/dxRJCEf/4sAN7iEKdWqPk6SWhIXt/jHZ7t9oqpTk/Oi BoLAsEZeYLsxM0zvU1lsPGBipLNAaCAMv10ZmJXGbJfcKTENF1bsr5pjfrWnNc9WPQ5UVHB xSW62J53Mu4rBbJl2dKUg== X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.4.x-2.6.x [generic] X-Received-From: 212.227.15.18 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:95177 Archived-At: Dear emacsophiles, ATM i read "An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp". In the section where the let function is explained in detail the author, Robert J. Chassell, uses this "silly" example: (let ((zebra 'stripes) (tiger 'fierce)) (message "One kind of animal has %s and another is %s." zebra tiger)) which when evaluated produces "One kind of animal has stripes and another is fierce." as output. The thing which makes me wonder is why he uses 'stripes instead of "stripes" in this example. In the output of the message function it makes no difference but to me it seems more natural to use strings here since they are part of a string in the output... I do not really understand how the 'stripes are different to "stripes". Isn't 'stripes a notation for the symbol stripes? This would mean there is the notion of a symbol which is bound to noting? Could somebody please enlighten me as to what the differences between "stripes" and 'stripes are and in which cases which notation is more useful/natural? Thanks, Gregor -- -... --- .-. . -.. ..--.. ...-.-