GNU bug report logs - #76132
Clojure-style auto-gensyms for macros

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From: Stefan Kangas <stefankangas <at> gmail.com>
To: Sean Whitton <spwhitton <at> spwhitton.name>, Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, Tassilo Horn <tsdh <at> gnu.org>,  Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>, 76132 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#76132: Clojure-style auto-gensyms for macros
Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2025 07:51:39 -0500

Sean Whitton <spwhitton <at> spwhitton.name> writes:

> On Sat 08 Feb 2025 at 09:54am +02, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>
>> I'm very hesitant to extend the Emacs Lisp language with such
>> features, when this can be had for a price of a simple function call.
>> We have enough magic names and punctuation characters already, and
>> they get in the way of code readability.
>
> Yeah.  I think we should not add this for the similar reasons to how we
> don't have reader macros: Lisp is an almost syntax-free language, and
> there are advantages to that.
>
> Any step away from that cuts deeply into the advantages, and the
> corresonding benefits of the new syntax are often very minor.
>
> cl-with-gensyms is only slightly more typing, and is more trad Lisp
> style.

I'd tend to agree, FWIW.

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