Re: append, push, and add-to-list.

[Emanuel Berg via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>]

Drew Adams wrote:

>> But with '() you see that it is (an empty) list:
>> 
>>   (defvar lst)
>>   (setq lst '())
>
> Yes, for human reading, () suggests that the value might be
> used as a list, and nil suggests that it might not be (e.g.,
> it might be used as a truth value or otherwise).
>
> But there is no reason to quote (). Like t, () is evaluates
> to itself.

Yes, there is a reason, it feels natural because of the way of
creating lists like this '(raz dva tri)

An unquoted list would be, for example, (list 1 2 3) So to
keep it consistent, without a quote, would it be

  (defvar lst)
  (setq lst (list)) ; nil

?

Is it just me, or does Lisp have so many
parenthesis everywhere? '() makes it easier to spot
immediately, hey, that's an empty list.

But ... ultimately one writes code so the computer can execute
it, and not so that a human can read it. So maybe one
shouldn't quote empty lists?

If so, I have 14 corrections to make...

-- 
underground experts united
https://dataswamp.org/~incal