3- for aesthetic reasons, I find that it's nicer if I don't have to mysteriously do "bar/baz" but "bar/baz-V1.200.lisp". I feel that the rule ".lisp is always added to the filename" is simpler and easier for newcomers to understand than the rule ".lisp is added to the filename iff there isn't a dot in the name already".
checking my comprehension: this paragraph describes the way a string value for :pathname is handled. this does not happen if the argument is a pathname. ?
Indeed, when the argument is a pathname, all that happens to it is to be MERGE-PATHNAMES*'ed to the parent pathname.
[ François-René ÐVB Rideau | Reflection&Cybernethics | http://fare.tunes.org ] The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. — H.L. Mencken