How to remove verbosity from the data passing mechanism using alist or plist ?

[Fren Zeee]

How to remove verbosity from the data passing mechanism using alist or
plist ?

Reading thru the various threads and replies by the luminaries of
lisp, CL, elisp, scheme,
functional programming etc.

I have decided to write a small game of following data in a buffer. At
this state I am only
readyfor the following questions. Yesterday, in my questions, I
explored how to get data
from buffer into strings.


8<-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



GOLD=1000

(defun find-my-marker-GOLD ()
 "Starting from anywhere in the file, find my marker GOLD its value
and location."
 (interactive)
 (save-excursion
   (save-match-data
     ;; Starting from the end of the file, find GOLD
     ;;
     (goto-char (point-
max))                                               ; Go to the end of
the file, and then
     (search-backward-regexp "GOLD=\\([0-9]+\\)\n" nil nil
nil)            ;  find the GOLD, and

(list                                                                 ;
as an a-list, return its
      (list
       :GOLD-
value                                                         ;
value, and
       (string-to-
number                                                   ;  read and
return it, with its
        (replace-regexp-in-string "GOLD=\\([0-9]+\\)\n" "\\1"  (match-string
0))))
      (list
       :GOLD-
location                                                      ;
location.
       (point) )))))


; (assoc-default :GOLD-value (find-my-marker-GOLD))


(defun test-GOLD (GOLD)
 "for now, tests the alist passing mechanism, later more."
 (let ((GOLD-value    (car (assoc-default :GOLD-value    GOLD )))
       (GOLD-location (car (assoc-default :GOLD-location GOLD ))))
   (list GOLD-value GOLD-location)
   )
 )

(test-GOLD (find-my-marker-GOLD))
8<-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Q] Are there any defects in this method of passing struct and what
improvements are possible ?

   Specifically, are there ways to reduce verbosity without using cl
or staying purely in elisp ?

[Q] Is there a way to avoid lengthy calling statement like
     (car (assoc-default :GOLD-value    GOLD )
   inside let,

   since the first argument of let is an alist of the form
        ((sym1 val1) (sym2 val2))

[Q] Is there a way to using plists for return from find-my-marker-GOLD
   and utilize in the user function test-GOLD

[Q] As you can see, I am looking for several level of solutions so I
can weight them.
   The main goal is brevity, style improvement and more acceptable
style.

 (a) Solution that is pure elisp and does not use any defmacros ,
defclass etc.
 (b) Solution that is clisp and un-restricted.
  (c) and within both of the above, solutions with plist and alist.

[Q] test-GOLD will actually be a function called find-GOLD-processing-
plant

   similar to find-my-marker-GOLD in
   that it would go using this data to the nearest GOLD processing
plant with
   the help of a suitable regexp. There was no need to split this set
of actions
   into several small functions except for the purpose of modularity.
The issue
   is what is a good style for such a problem where there is coupling
ie only
   find-GOLD-processing-plant can use the object of type GOLD, not a
   find-SILVER-processing-plant because there are some hidden
assumptions, such
   as the nearest regexp of type PLANT=address near a GOLD=value
object
   is a GOLD processing plant and the nearest regexp of type
PLANT=address
   near a SILVER=value object is a SILVER processing plant.

   Thus, in view of this hidden coupling, which I am not able to get
rid of
   without too much complication and


The main goals are
                    to write main function as a readable english
prose
and also
                    to remove the verbosity in passing data (alist
and plist)
                    in and out of functions.

Thanks again for your help.

For a newbie please put some comments as in my function find-my-marker-
GOLD since many of you try to use language constructs in clever ways ?

Franz Xe