Re: [Chicken-users] Why there is no "nil"?

[Alex Stuart]

"It's remarkable how much energy in the standardization of Lisp dialects 
has been dissipated in arguments that are literally over nothing: Should 
nil be an ordinary name? Should the value of nil be a symbol? Should it 
be a list? Should it be a pair? In Scheme, nil is an ordinary name.... 
Other dialects of Lisp, including Common Lisp, treat nil as a special 
symbol. The authors of this book, who have endured too many language 
standardization brawls, would like to avoid the entire issue."

(from "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" by Harold 
Abelson and Gerald Sussman)

--Alex

On 2014-12-17 00:48, Kristian Lein-Mathisen wrote:
> Hi Bahman,
>
> I just thought I'd add that the only thing that evaluates to false in
> Scheme is #f.
>
> K.
> On Dec 17, 2014 9:42 AM, "Christian Kellermann" <address@hidden>
> wrote:
>
> > * Bahman Movaqar <address@hidden> [141217 09:35]:
> > > I'm curious to know why "nil" is not defined in CHICKEN and one
> > has to
> > > use '() instead? TIA,
> > >
> > > PS: Or am I missing something ridiculously obvious!?
> >
> > This is scheme not lisp. nil is not defined in R5RS scheme.
> > And I think it is not defined in R6RS or R7RS either.
> >
> > Kind regards,
> >
> > Christian
> >
> > --
> > May you be peaceful, may you live in safety, may you be free from
> > suffering, and may you live with ease.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Chicken-users mailing list
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> > https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/chicken-users [1]
>
>
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