[slime-devel] Re: :new-features command

[Nikodemus Siivola]

"Brad Beveridge" <brad.beveridge at gmail.com> writes:

>> Yes.  By convention, messages on the wire should only contain
>> keywords, nil, and t.  But this convention isn't enforced, and the
>> :new-features message obviously violates the convention.

Since packages aren't guarenteed to exist on both sides of the wire,
perhaps something like this is in order:

 (defun wire-symbol (symbol)
   (if (keywordp symbol)
       symbol
       (make-wire-symbol :package (package-name (symbol-package symbol))
                         :name (symbol-name symbol))))

...where the WIRE-SYMBOL travels over the wire as something like
(:SYMBOL "PACKAGE" "NAME") or #S(SWANK:WIRE-SYMBOL ...). The receiving
end can then check if the package exists or not, and act approriately,
where "appropriate" is probably context-dependent.

Cheers,

  -- Nikodemus              Schemer: "Buddha is small, clean, and serious."
                   Lispnik: "Buddha is big, has hairy armpits, and laughs."