Re: Choosing between Lisps and Schemes

Julieta Shem <jshem@yaxenu.org> writes:

Likely because lambda is syntax, not a symbol.

  The Hyper Spec (indirect quotation) does call "lambda" a "symbol":

|lambda expression n. a list which can be used in place of a
|function name in certain contexts to denote a function by
|directly describing its behavior rather than indirectly by
|referring to the name of an established function; its name
|derives from the fact that its first element is the symbol
|lambda.

  . Since I use "NewLisp", what should be relevant in my case should
  actually be NewLisp! The NewLisp manual says indeed:

|Note that the lambda keyword is not a symbol in a list,
|but a designator of a special type of list: the lambda list.

  . Insofar, you are right when you say it's not a symbol!
  It's a keyword (in NewLisp).

  I'd hesitate to call lambda "syntax", but I thing you might meant
  to say it's /part of/ the syntax, which is what a keyword is.