Re: Bawden's remarks on characters

[Daniel L. Weinreb <DLW at MIT-AI>]

    Yes, adding 23. to #/A to get #/X is a neat crock.  So is Kahan's
    SQRT algorithm.  The latter is somewhat contained, however, while
    the former is, I suggest, too much more pervasive.  Writing
    (CODE-CHAR (+ 23. (CODE-CHAR #/A))) is not that much more work,
    is clearer as to what is going on, and no less efficient when
    compiled...

All this is true, but did you really mean to suggest that writing that
is the right thing?  It sure doesn't help achieve portability, as MMcM
points out.  Maybe you weren't thinking very hard when you wrote this?