Re: One more question about elisp

[Barry Margolin]

In article 
<df099ab0-0fca-4a34-8b2d-f02fc068c6d1@v30g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
 LanX <lanx.perl@googlemail.com> wrote:

> On 6 Nov., 22:05, Francis Moreau <francis.m...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > It sounds strange to me (knowing C, python) to use hash tables to
> > structure data.
> 
> You never used dicts in python for structured data???

That's also how it's done in Perl, where they're called hashes.  This is 
a very convenient way to implement structured data that's easily 
extended.  You don't have to predefine the object layout, you can add 
new elements on the fly easily.

It probably wouldn't have been practical 20-30 years ago when Lisp 
idioms were being created.  The overhead of hashing so frequently would 
have been excessive on that generation of computers.

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
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