[lispy-devel] Packages versus systems

[Michael Ben-Yosef]

Hi,

Thanks for Lispy. It looks to be a very nice project and I can't wait to 
give it a whirl. I've been waiting for someone to put something like 
this together and I'm glad not have to make my own ill-conceived attempt 
at it.

I would like to make a recommendation with regard to the terminology 
that is being used. I strongly suggest calling it a "system manager" for 
Common Lisp instead of a "package manager". As you know, the word 
"package" already has a very specific meaning in the CL language. The 
fact that a package in CL is more of a namespace for symbols than a 
self-contained module of code already confuses newcomers to the language 
to no end, giving rise to attempts to allay the confusion, such as this 
one: http://weitz.de/packages.html
Using the word "package" in two different senses would make things a lot 
worse, especially since "system" is already the accepted CL term for 
what is meant here. ASDF is after all, Another *System* Definition Facility.

Kind regards,

Michael