Re: assq compatibility with Maclisp

[Glenn S. Burke <GSB at MIT-ML>]

There is no non-pair check in the fast loop.   The slow loop claims it
is allowing a toplevel NIL in the list to be ignored, although what it
actually does is to do a pairp test, therefore becoming assq-carefully.

The problem we have here is that we need to decide if this is a feature
or not, to what extent (NIL only, or non-pairs), and can we afford support
it.  My own memory tells me that we used to have only the fast loop;
unfortunately, this produced behaviour which approximated assq-carefully
(unless you came up with a losing case), and people came to use and
depend on it, thinking of it as a feature.

Anyone know if there is a common-lisp stance on this kludge/feature?