Re: using empty_string as the only "" string

[Miles Bader]

"dmantipov" <address@hidden> writes:
> All CLs I've installed (clisp, cmucl and franz) gives (eq 0 0) => t and
> (eq "" "") => nil. But a) we can tweak 'eq' to handle this special case
> (looks poor, but just to purify the language)

No, eq should not be "tweaked" (especially for something so silly as the
current discussion) -- it's supposed to be fast and straightforward, and
as long as it does the right thing in those cases where its behavior
_is_ defined, who cares if it reveals implementation idiosyncrasies in
case where it's not?  Some things in lisp (CL or otherwise) are defined
narrowly, but not everything is, and that's ok.

-Miles
-- 
We are all lying in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
-Oscar Wilde