[Openmcl-devel] Error on macro character after sharpsign colon

[Tobias C. Rittweiler]

Gary Byers <gb at clozure.com> writes:

> I don't know enough about it to be sure, but Tobias Rittweiler's
> NAMED-READTABLES package
>
> <http://common-lisp.net/project/editor-hints/darcs/named-readtables/doc/named-readtables.html>
> may offer features that try to make some of this more manageable.
>
> (I'd agree that it's non-trivial to solve the general problem, but
> practical solutions that make readtable extensions more manageable
> could certainly be useful.)

Thanks for advertising it.

Named-Readtables solves it in the same way as it's solved for the
package system. The reason why you usually don't get bitten by loading
in third-party code in a random *PACKAGE* is because it's common style
to put an IN-PACKAGE form at the start of every .lisp file.

If, hypothetically speaking, every third-party code out there would use
named-readtables, and put (IN-READTABLE :COMMON-LISP) at the start of
every .lisp file, too  -- Terje would not have been bitten.

Of course, that's unrealistic. You should never load third-party code
with your customized readtable being active.

The named-readtables library conveniently allows you to make sure that
your custom readtable is only used for your own stuff -- without having
to globally adjust the *READTABLE* variable. Just like
DEFPACKAGE/IN-PACKAGE allows you to make sure that your files are
compiled under your own *PACKAGE*.

  -T.


PS.

Because the URL cited above is so excessively long, I just made

   http://common-lisp.net/project/named-readtables/

point to the above.