[debbugs-tracker] bug#32284: closed (special form documentation)

[GNU bug Tracking System]

Your message dated Sat, 28 Jul 2018 10:26:43 +0300
with message-id <address@hidden>
and subject line Re: bug#32284: special form documentation
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #32284,
regarding special form documentation
to be marked as done.

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-- 
32284: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=32284
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--- Begin Message --- Subject: special form documentation Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2018 17:44:17 -0500

The Elisp manual section on Special Forms (10.2.7) lists around two dozen special forms, but two of them aren't special forms.

* `lambda', it turns out, is not a special form, but a macro that wraps itself in a call to the special form `function'. (The documentation for `lambda' refers to it as "self-quoting"; this might be better changed to "self-evaluating".)

* `track-mouse' isn't a special form, but a macro wrapper around the primitive function `internal--track-mouse', which isn't a special form either. (Section 29.15 on Mouse Tracking also inaccruately refers to `track-mouse' as a special form.)

On the other hand, the special form `inline' is not listed in the Special Forms section.

A list of all special forms can be gotten with

(let (special-forms)

  (mapatoms

   (lambda (sym)

     (when (special-form-p sym)

       (push sym special-forms))))

  (sort special-forms #'string<))

--- End Message ---

> --- Begin Message ---
>
>
>
> Subject: 
>
> Re: bug#32284: special form documentation
>
>
>
>
> Date: 
>
> Sat, 28 Jul 2018 10:26:43 +0300
>
>
>
>
> > From: Brett Gilio <address@hidden>
> > Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2018 19:04:32 -0500
> > Cc: address@hidden
> > 
> > Anybody else have any input?
>
> I do: the point about track-mouse is correct: it used to be a special
> form (implemented in C), but nowadays is a macro.  So I removed it
> from the list of special forms.
>
> I didn't do anything about 'lambda', because its user-facing behavior
> is that of a special form, and the fact that it is a thin wrapper
> around 'function' is an implementation detail that doesn't necessarily
> matter in this context.
>
> With that, I'm closing this bug report.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> --- End Message ---