[clisp-list] Case sensitive reader. A call for action.

[Marco A. <ma...@cs...>]

Hi,

I do not know how many people here have been following the current
debate on C.L.L. regarding the issue of the case sensitive reader.

I believe this is not going away and that it is something we need to
deal with.  Franz has posed a problem and IMHO - in spite of the ANSI
standard - the users and implementors of the (two) major "open source"
implementations need to come up with a decent and well thought-out
response.

I surely do not have the expertise and the knowledge to pinpoint all
the issues in the major "open source" implementations, but I would
like to volunteer to two things:

1 - a straw poll about whether a "case sensitive" reader would be a
    good thing.
2 - what would be the "cost to implementors" (of - at least CMUCL and
    CLisp) -- e.g. what would it take to change all internal symbols
    to lower case.
3 - whether the change could be accommodated without changing too much
    the ANSI standard.  I.e. how the change can be accommodated in
    such a way to allow strict ANSI programs to be accepted.
4 - if the ANSI standard needed to be changed, then how should a
    consensus be reached, so that it somehow binds the implementors to
    the set of agreed upon choices.

I do this because I value the ANSI standard and all the good that has
come out of it, while at the same time I do understand the points made
by the case-sensitivity supporters.

Cheers 

-- 
Marco Antoniotti =============================================================
NYU Bioinformatics Group			 tel. +1 - 212 - 998 3488
719 Broadway 12th Floor                          fax  +1 - 212 - 995 4122
New York, NY 10003, USA				 http://galt.mrl.nyu.edu/valis
             Like DNA, such a language [Lisp] does not go out of style.
			      Paul Graham, ANSI Common Lisp