Re: adding namespaces to emacs-lisp (better elisp?)

[Lars Brinkhoff]

Pascal J. Bourguignon wrote:
>> When I did my implementation of CL packages, I did consider using
>> obarrays for the symbol table.  But as you say, they are not quite
>> suitable for that because a symbol may have to be interned in more
>> than one package.  Whereas an Emacs symbol may only be intered in
>> one obarray.  Or so I vaguely recall.
> That must be another reason, because it's not the case.

Right, I was vague on the details.  How about this?

In Common Lisp, it may be the case that one particular symbol can be
found (e.g. by FIND-SYMBOL) in multiple Lisp packages.  But in Emacs
Lisp, a symbol can only be found (e.g. by intern-soft) in one single
obarray.  This made me hesitate to use obarrays to implement packages.
However, it can be made to work, and may actually be the best solution.