Re: "custom" threatens modular thinking?

[Per Abrahamsen]

franl-removethis@world.omitthis.std.com (Francis Litterio) writes:

> Here's something to beware of when setting hooks in your .emacs file.  If
> your .emacs file contains:
>
>   (add-hook 'xyzzy-hook 'my-xyzzy-hook-func)
>
> and later package xyzzy.el is loaded, and xyzzy.el contains a default
> value for xyzzy-hook, such as:
>
>   (defvar xyzzy-hook 'xyzzy-do-it "...")
>
> then the value of the hook ends up being:
>
>   (my-xyzzy-hook-func)
>
> and not:
>
>   (xyzzy-do-it my-xyzzy-hook-func)
>
> which might make the package malfunction.

Which is why hooks should always have a default value of nil.  Lisp
programmers, take note.