GNU bug report logs - #11782
24.1; closure is not self-quoting

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From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
To: 11782 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#11782: 24.1; closure is not self-quoting
Date: Tue, 28 May 2013 20:25:17 -0400

>> Could you expand on why you think it's severe?
> I think this issue is severe because the behaviour is odd and follows
> neither other mature Lispy languages nor the reference manual.

I see.  So we just disagree on what is considered severe (I expected
something like "this and that common idiom found in those packages fails").

    In Emacs Lisp, such a list is valid as an expression--it evaluates
    to itself.

Clearly this doc needs to be fixed since it confuses lambda expressions
and lambda values and while this conflation mostly worked in dynamic
binding, it does not work any more in the presence of closures.  I just
installed the patch below.


        Stefan


--- doc/lispref/functions.texi	2013-01-01 09:11:05 +0000
+++ doc/lispref/functions.texi	2013-05-29 00:16:58 +0000
@@ -196,9 +196,8 @@
 @end example
 
 @noindent
-In Emacs Lisp, such a list is valid as an expression---it evaluates to
-itself.  But its main use is not to be evaluated as an expression, but
-to be called as a function.
+In Emacs Lisp, such a list is a valid expression which evaluates to
+a function object.
 
   A lambda expression, by itself, has no name; it is an @dfn{anonymous
 function}.  Although lambda expressions can be used this way

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