RE: Eval - Pro's and Con's (was Re: Dylan rather than CL -- why?)

[Jeff Dalton <jeff@aiai.edinburgh.ac.uk>]

> There is a big issue hovering below the surface here. eval is used for
> REP loops, and REP loops are part of things like "command-line" interfaces,
> but not usually anything to do with GUIs. I wouldn't want to see eval put 
> in to help develop the wrong kind of system. 

What?  EVAL just does the eval part.  It's READ and PRINT that are
the "wrong kind" of interface.

However, one of the key advantages of Lisp is that there's a defined
external representation for a wide range of data object.  One of the
things that keeps me from using other languages is that I usually
have to write a bunch of tedious I/O routines before I can try things
out.

This is not to say that READ and PRINT should be delivered in
applications though, or that they're useful in every case.
However, their usefulness is not confined to "command-line"
interfaces.

-- jd