Re: 'length' function for lists and cons cells?

["Pascal J. Bourguignon" <pjb@informatimago.com>]

"Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>> > So if both, true lists and cons cells, are processed in a... 
>> 
>> proper-lists, not true lists.  
>> They all are true lists, ie. cons cells or nil.
>
> Maybe for some people.  For others, "true list" and "proper list" mean the same
> thing.  FWIW, Emacs itself calls such a beast a "true list".

Even emacs itself calls such beasts true lists:

(typep '()                   'list) --> t
(typep '(1)                  'list) --> t
(typep '(1 . #1=(2 3 . #1#)) 'list) --> t
(typep '(1 . 2)              'list) --> t



>>From (elisp) `Cons Cells':
>
>   Also by convention, the CDR of the last cons cell in a
>   list is `nil'.  We call such a `nil'-terminated structure
>   a "true list".  

No, f[…] manual, you're dumbing down the language, which is
patronizing and error inducing.


-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/
A bad day in () is better than a good day in {}.