Subject: Re: MD5 in LISP and abstraction inversions From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net> Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 17:08:50 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3214573728375953@naggum.net> * Will Deakin | Uhhh? If C is so portable, why is there configure, automake, autoconf | and/or makemake and xmake and the whole smeary mess of bodging make files | to work on different platforms? But those tools are precisely what makes C portable. Ironic, eh? No responsible Open Source programmer fails to take these tools into account when programming. Writing fully portable code using these tools is considered the mark of a conscientious, caring, professional C author. It takes great effort, but in the end, it is worth it because the whole Open Source world has actually learned to cope with its portability issues. In the Common Lisp world, however, at least one Open Source author thinks conscientiousness, caring, and professionality is a waste of his presumably exceptionally precious time. I find this very sad, but more, an insult to the community. Caring about one's own values is good, but when it means not caring about those of others, it becomes bad, and one has to wonder what the purpose of "sharing" code really is. /// -- Norway is now run by a priest from the fundamentalist Christian People's Party, the fifth largest party representing one eighth of the electorate. -- Carrying a Swiss Army pocket knife in Oslo, Norway, is a criminal offense.