Re: Is (provide 'foo) at the start good or bad?

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Leo writes:

 > > one less char).  So what is the benefit of providing it at the very
 > > start? 
 > 
 > I have run into this problem before. I prefer putting provide at the end
 > of the file.

Putting the provide form at the beginning allows mutually recursive
requires to succeed.  I also prefer it as a matter of style, sort of
serving as a `declare-package'.

Regarding work-arounds, I would do the OP's task (customizing a
variable) in a mode-hook using `add-to-list', rather than as an
eval-after-load.