Issue: BACKQUOTE-COMMA-ATSIGN-DOT-COMMA (Version 1)

[Guy Steele <gls@Think.COM>]

   Date: Mon, 9 Jan 89 19:54:06 PST
   From: Jon L White <jonl@lucid.com>

   re: The meta-rules for backquote were derived "after the fact" as a way to
       explain what backquote did; the use of APPEND and the equivalences there
       were based on the old semantics of APPEND. Now that we've extended APPEND,
       we have to change the meta-rules of backquote, . . . 

   Your assumption here can't be true -- The MacLisp implementation (and
   others) carried out the now-debased optimization; yet the meta-rules
   stand.  I'm very leery of changing these meta rules unless QUUX signs
   off on it -- every time I've been tempted to dicker with them, I find
   out that they are much deeper than a cursory glanch would suspect.  [I
   thought Guy devised those "meta" rules -- if he didn't then the author
   ought to be consulted.]

I am responsible for the meta-rules in CLtL.
--Guy