Re: Lisp files that load cl-lib in problematical ways

[Richard Stallman]

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

  > > A CL fan might say the latter is simpler, but for me, who isn't sure
  > > just how to use cl-pushnew, the former seems conceptually simpler.

  > The `cl-pushnew' docstring explains:

  >     Add X to the list stored in PLACE unless X is already in the list.

Yes, it does -- but what I said is valid nonetheless.
We're talking about the complexity of different ways of writing code.

A reference to a function that you don't know has a kind of complexity.
The fact that you can look up that function doesn't eliminate that complexity.

  > The only difference I see is that new version is harder to read, and
  > more prone to bugs (as you have to write the same code twice).

Do you frequently use the cl- facilities such as `cl-pushnew'?  If so,
that might explain why you didn't _see_ the extra complexity that
comes from calling `cl-pushnew'.  That extra complexity exists for
people who don't habitually use cl facilities, and not for those who
do habitually use them.


-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)