A critic of Guido's blog on Python's lambda

[Ken Tilton]

Alexander Schmolck wrote:
> Ken Tilton <kentilton at gmail.com> writes:
> 
> 
>>In Common Lisp we would have:
>>
>>    (defvar *x*) ;; makes it special
>>    (setf *x* 1)
>>    (print *x*) ;;-> 1
>>    (let ((*x* 2))
>>       (print *x*)) ;; -> 2
>>    (print *x*) ;; -> 1
> 
> 
> You seem to think that conflating special variable binding and lexical
> variable binding is a feature and not a bug. What's your rationale?

Transparency. That is where power comes from. I did the same things with 
Cells. Reading a slot with the usual Lisp reader method transparently 
creates a dependency on the variable. To change a variable and have it 
propagate throughout the datamodel, Just Change It.

Exposed wiring means more work and agonizing refactoring.

kenny

-- 
Cells: http://common-lisp.net/project/cells/

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