26 Mar
2011
26 Mar
'11
2:59 a.m.
Kazimir Majorinc kazimir@chem.pmf.hr writes:
"DEFVAR and DEFPARAMETER do the combined service of
- in some implementations, recording the "definitional home" of the
variable
- declaring the indicated variable special in compiler and runtime
- assigning the variable (either conditionally, as in DEFVAR, which
assigns only in the case that the variable is unbound, or unconditionally, as in DEFPARAMETER). "
K. Pitman, comp.lang.lisp, 26. April 2001.
Why "in some implementations?"
Because this is something that is just not specified.
What "recording the definitional home" means?
It's recording that the variable is defined in that file, at that position, so that you the "IDE" may jump to the definition of the variable to inspect it or modify it.
There's an additionnal service that's specified:
- record the variable documentation for that symbol.
--
__Pascal Bourguignon__ http://www.informatimago.com/
A bad day in () is better than a good day in {}.