Re: [PATCH] Unicode Lisp reader escapes

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Cc: address@hidden,  address@hidden,  address@hidden
> From: Stefan Monnier <address@hidden>
> Date: Thu, 04 May 2006 17:40:28 -0400
> 
> >> After all, it's there, it works, and as mentioned: there's no
> >> evidence that the decoding time of \u escapes it ever going to need
> >> to be fast.
> 
> > ??? inside the Lisp reader, everything needs to be fast, IMO.
> 
> Why?

Because the Lisp reader is the backbone of the Lisp interpreter.

> IMO the only things that need to be fast are those things whose
> performance has a visible impact.  I see no evidence that there'll ever be
> a case where the speed with which we can read \u escapes will matter.

You don't need to see an evidence of a collapsing bridge to know that
it must be several times stronger than any imaginable load that could
ever be put on it.

In other words, not everything is empirical; there's a thing called
``good engineering practice.''

Sorry for being overly didactic, I'm sure you know all that.  I'm just
amazed that such a fundamental issue needs evidence.