From xemacs-m  Thu Apr 17 12:25:03 1997
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From: Kyle Jones <kyle_jones@wonderworks.com>
To: xemacs-beta@xemacs.org, emacs-custom@sunsite.auc.dk
Subject: Re: CL features
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Bill Dubuque writes:
 > [...]
 > Without introducing modern programming abstractions into
 > e-lisp I fear that the e-lisp level Emacs sources will soon
 > make good entries into 'most obfuscated code' contests.

It really depends on your target audience.  For those who use
Lisp a little rather than a lot, the abundance of special forms
and the resulting confusion about what is evaluated and when
makes CL code more obfuscated than current Emacs-Lisp code.  (I
would say the same for Ben's heavy, heavy use of macros in the
XEmacs C sources.  It's almost as if he's writing in another
language in some places, or very much wants to be.)

Because of its simpler evaluation rules, Emacs-Lisp is quickly
taught to and understod people who would be daunted by Common
Lisp.  I believe this is important for something that is meant in
large part (but not totally) to be a customization language.

