[asdf-devel] Re: Make the CL syntax predictable

[Faré]

>     Fare> Yes I do, although I just committed a change to override
>     Fare> *read-default-float-format* to 'double-float, which I believe is more
>     Fare> useful.
>
> I disagree that that is more useful. While I almost always use
> doubles, there are lots of reasons to use singles. Just because I like
> doubles doesn't mean we're right and everyone else is wrong.
>
You can still use singles as in 1f0 or 1.0f0. And you can still
override *read-default-float-format*.

I modified femlisp to do the right thing, whichever way ASDF goes:
https://github.com/fare/femlisp

> If you must choose a value, it should be 'single-float, because that
> is the CL default.
>
It's hardly "the" CL default. There is no CL default. CL tells of an
"initial value", but the fact that it won't be modified is guaranteed
not to be guaranteed by ASDF, and indeed some systems, like femlisp,
bind it to 'double-float. If you expect it to be single-float always,
you already lost.

> I also tend to agree with Robert. asdf is a make, not a lint+make.
>
It's not a matter of lint at all. It's a matter of invoking the
compiler in a reasonably known state, with reasonable compilation
flags, reasonable warning behavior, etc. Where reasonable is under
control of he who knows under what expectations he wrote the code,
i.e. the system author, without risk of interference from the REPL,
and where the defaults are predictable and sensible.

—♯ƒ • François-René ÐVB Rideau •Reflection&Cybernethics• http://fare.tunes.org
It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still
to be a live lion. And usually easier.
        — Robert Heinlein, "Time Enough For Love"