Re: character objects & randomness

[Jonathan A. Rees <JAR at MIT-MC>]

    Date: 14 August 1980 23:18-EDT
    From: Robert W. Kerns <RWK at MIT-MC>

        Would you change the MacLisp #/ to generate "character objects"
        (symbols)?  That would be an amazing loss.  If we are only talking
        about NIL, then I can live with it.

    As in my previous note, this is somebody's brain bubble.  Nobody,
    absolutely nobody, has ever suggested to my knowledge making #/
    generate "character objects".

Kerns, you are completely wrong that no one has suggested a different
meaning for #/.  Steele proposed over a year ago that #/ return
"characters," which on systems that provoided them would mean
"character objects," but would otherwise probably mean "fixnums."
(Please read MC: NIL; CHPROP >.)  I have been pushing this for months.

(I agree with Alan that Maclisp should NOT provide character
objects as such.  But adherence to a character standard is an
independent issue from that of the existence of character objects.)