Subject: Re: The history of print, prin1, and princ? From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net> Date: Sun, 09 Dec 2001 23:25:58 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3216929157799333@naggum.net> * Kent M Pitman | The problem I have with WRITE is that in most implementations, keyargs are | slow to decode. Not a language problem, per se, but still worrisome. If this is the case, does it apply to the number of keyword arguments in the lambda list or in the actual call? Is it that write is expected to bind the corresponding special variables in the keyword decoding that makes write slower? | Also, in practice, I've found people to be not good about selecting the | right one of :escape t and :escape nil. Often they just take the | default, thinking on the basis of too little testing, that it will just | get the right value. PRIN1 vs PRINC forces people to think harder. Well, in my experience, failure to understand the interaction of the printer control variables is pervasive. It appears to be very hard for some people to get into the habit of thinking about them, and they write amazingly buggy code. Thank you for the elaborate answer. /// -- The past is not more important than the future, despite what your culture has taught you. Your future observations, conclusions, and beliefs are more important to you than those in your past ever will be. The world is changing so fast the balance between the past and the future has shifted.