Subject: Re: Deleting directories in lisp
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 19:16:00 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3234021360326545@naggum.net>

* Paul D. Lathrop
| Yes I've found that deleting directories appears to be an
| implementation-dependent subject. *sigh* Seems silly to me. Ah, well.

  Directories are implementation-dependent by their very nature.  What is
  slightly painful is that Common Lisp vendors on operating system families
  have somehow failed to agree on how to make these simple things portable
  within the famiilies.  This has some historical reasons, which mostly have to
  do with how Common LIsp people tend to regard the Unix or Windows way as
  "wrong" and go on to reinvent their own "right" solution differently.  There
  is a strong tradition from the Lisp machines to do certain things a certain
  way, but it tends to be hard to splice Lisp machine semantics into Unix or
  Windows.  Please try to understand that Common Lisp is not a one-operating-
  system-language or a one-implementation language.

  You are supposed to know which is language and which is operating system and
  behave reasonably accordingly.  If it say it seems silly to you, that only
  means that you seem silly to those who have figured this out and appreciate
  the difference because it does not make undue requirements on the environment
  of a Common Lisp implementation.

[ Please quote only the relevant text of your replies and answer below the
  relevant text you quote.  Microsoft screwed up.  Make another choice. ]
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