Re: Issue: READ-CASE-SENSITIVITY (Version 1)

["Steve Bacher (Batchman)" <SEB1525@draper.com>]

Re KMP's reply to jeff:  Without disagreeing with those arguments, I would
point out that much of the problem Kent finds with the use of *READ-CASE*
applies equally well to *PACKAGE*.  (The main difference is that you normally
expect symbols like CAR to be "already around" and therefore not interned in
the "wrong" package - but this is analogous to typing CAR in uppercase under
the proposal.)  Users already have to beware of some random piece of code
changing the value of *PACKAGE* and affecting the way symbols get read in.
Is this so different?
 
Also, the horror of having to type CAR instead of car doesn't bother folks
who are used to UNIX and C.  
 
A similar topic raged on the common-lisp list several years back, as I recall,
with the upshot being that only the franz community wanted or cared about
case sensitivity (or was it forced downcasing?) in the reader, and everyone
else thought it was a bad idea.  This may still be true, but (a) Jeff's
proposal seems more well thought out, and (b) UNIX isn't as much of an alien
force as it once was.