GNU bug report logs - #49278
28.0.50; Lisp Mode is for Common Lisp

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From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
To: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
Cc: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>, João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com>, "49278 <at> debbugs.gnu.org" <49278 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: bug#49278: [External] : bug#49278: 28.0.50; Lisp Mode is for Common Lisp
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2021 22:06:40 -0400

> No.  I was saying that I don't see why we should
> say that "lisp-mode is only for Common Lisp".

AFAIK nobody has suggested to say "only Common Lisp".
The suggested text was:

    +  Lisp mode is the major mode for editing programs written in Common
    +Lisp or its ancestor dialects.  Its mode command is @kbd{M-x
    +lisp-mode}.  Emacs uses Lisp mode automatically for files whose names
    +end in @file{.l}, @file{.lsp}, or @file{.lisp}.

>> No, that's the thing, it's a Common Lisp mode, not just "any Lisp" mode.
> Then call it such, if you're sure it's useful
> only for Common Lisp.

Again, where does that "only" come from?  The thing I think we should
say clearly is that it's a major mode for Common Lisp.  The current
text:

    -  Lisp mode is the major mode for editing programs written in
    -general-purpose Lisp dialects, such as Common Lisp.  Its mode command

is just misleading since you'll probably be quite disappointed if you
try to use it with most other "general-purpose Lisp dialects" (such as
Clojure or Scheme).  Among the non-general purpose Lisp languages,
I think it can be tolerably for AutoCAD's Lisp (tho `emacs-lisp-mode`
would probably work about as well), but probably not for DSSSL (and even
less for XSLT, tho whether it'd still qualify as Lisp is not so clear).

>> Why should the name of the major mode be relevant to this discussion?
> Why indeed.  `irrelevant-mode'? `mystery-mode'?
> I'd like to call it `fortran-mode', but I guess
> that's out.

The major mode I use for ELisp is called `emacs-lisp-mode`, the major
mode I use for OCaml is `tuareg-mode`, the major mode I use for C is
`sm-c-mode`.  The most popular major mode for Perl is arguably
`cperl-mode`.  It's common for major modes's names to be related yet not
identical to the language they support.


        Stefan

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