[no subject]

[XCONOS at MIT-AI (Alec Destry)]

Subject: unnecessary system changes.

  I have noticed over the past month or so a couple of
not so useful system changes.
  One had to do with the :set-cursorpos message sent to a
stream.  In system 29.95NWS it had this format:

  (funcall foobar-stream  ':character column line)
                          (or ':pixel)
  Get to system 30 and above it has this format:

  (funcall foobar-stream column line ':character)

  Such a change I my view did nothing to eliminate bugs
while at the same time it broke a couple of my programs.
True it was easy enough to fix but then the problem is
I have to choose which lisp-machines I want to work on
since some have the old system and some have the new.  In
this particular case that wasn't too bad since everyone
wanted to get rid of systems 29 and below.

  The second occurence has to do with tv:%draw-line.  In
system 32.2 it has six arguments but in later systems it
has seven arguments.  This time all my programs are broken.
True it is easy enough to change but then I have to choose
which lisp machine I want to work on.  This time I really
have to choose cause there is no real enthusiasm to update
to the latest system.

  In my view it is better to avoid such changes.