Re: feature? or provided?

[Dirk Herrmann]

On 6 Sep 2001, Michael Livshin wrote:

> > > Pfhrr, beats me.  What are people using?  Off hand, I'd say that
> > > `feature?' should remain.
> > 
> > Well, I prefer `provided?´, since `feature?´ sounds more like a type
> > predicate.
> 
> I prefer `feature?', but that's maybe because I'm used to Emacs.
> 
> in Emacs, the way I see it, the idea of `provide' is to register a
> feature, not to put a symbol in some predefined list.  it's about the
> intent.  some features are never provided by calling `provide', they
> just exist.

Well, the fact that 'provide' in guile just puts an object into a
predefined list should be seen as an implementation detail.  I guess that
semantically `provide´ simply does what you want it to:  register a
feature.  Or am I on the wrong track here?  What does Emacs do if you call
'provide' there?

Best regards
Dirk Herrmann