SUNDAY  FEB 19,1978  FQ+4D.11H.48M.14S.  LISP 493 -GLS, HIC, JONL-

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION REGARDING UPCOMING CHANGE:
[!] IN THE NEXT VERSION OF LISP, INIT FILES WILL ALWAYS BE READ UPON STARTUP

CHANGES THAT AFFECT NEWIO ONLY:
[A] UREAD NOW RETURNS TRUENAME OF FILE RATHER THAN FILE NAME AS GIVEN
[B] THERE IS NOW AN AUTOLOAD PROPERTY ON THE INF-EDIT FUNCTION FOR LISPT USERS
[C] THERE IS NOW AN AUTOLOAD PROPERTY ON THE LAP-A-LIST FUNCTION
[D] FUNCTIONAL VARIABLES ARE NOW UNDER A STATUS/SSTATUS SWITCH
 
CHANGES THAT AFFECT ALL VERSIONS:
[1] EXP NOW ACCEPTS ARGUMENTS UP TO 88.0
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[!] IN THE NEXT RELEASE OF LISP YOUR DEFAULT INIT FILE (THE ONE YOU WOULD
    GET IF YOU TYPED ^Q TO ALLOC QUESTION) WILL DE LOADED WHEN LISP IS
    STARTED FOR THE FIRST TIME.  THE FILE THAT IS READ CAN BE MODIFIED
    BY GIVING LISP A JCL LINE (AS ALWAYS).  THERE WILL BE NO WAY, WITHIN
    LISP, TO TURN THIS FEATURE OFF.  WHAT THIS MEANS IS THAT LISP WILL NOW
    HANDLE INIT FILES IN THE WAY THAT MOST OTHER SYSTEM PROGRAMS, SUCH AS
    EMACS, HANDLE THEM.

[A] UREAD NOW RETURNS THE VALUE OF THE FUNCTION TRUENAME APPLIED TO THE
    FILE OPENED BY UREAD.  YOU CAN THEREFORE SEE EXACTLY WHAT FILE IS BEING
    PROCESSED.

[B] THE INF-EDIT FUNCTION, WHICH IS THE WAY IN WHICH THE EDITING PACKAGE LISPT
    IS INVOKED, NOW HAS A SYSTEM AUTOLOAD PROPERTY.

[C] THE FUNCTION LAP-A-LIST NOW HAS AN AUTOLOAD PROPERTY.  LAP-A-LIST IS
    A FUNCTION WHICH IS USED BY LAP AFTER IT BUILDS A LIST OF THE USERS
    INPUT.  IT IS FELT THAT USERS WANTING TO GENERATE LAP CODE VIA PROGRAMS
    AND PASS IT TO LAP TO BE PROCESSED CAN MORE EASILY GENERATE A LIST OF
    LAP EXPRESSIONS RATHER THAN PUTTING UP WITH THE FUNNY INTERFACE TO
    LAP AS IS CURRENTLY REQUIRED.  LAP-A-LIST TAKES AS ITS ARGUMENT A LIST
    WHICH IS SIMPLY A LIST OF THE INDIVIDUAL LINES THAT WOULD NORMALLY BE
    FED TO THE LAP PROGRAM.

[D] WE PLAN TO FLUSH FUNCTIONAL VARIABLES IN THE NEAR FUTURE.  AS AN INTERIM
    MEASURE, WHETHER OR NOT AN ATOM IN A FUNCTIONAL POSITION IS EVALUATED
    IS DETERMINED BY THE SETTING OF THE 'PUNT' STATUS FLAG.  WHEN (STATUS PUNT)
    IS T, EVALUATION OF FUNCTIONAL VARIABLES WILL BE SKIPPED (PUNTED?).
    THE FLAG IS DEFAULTLY T, AND SHOULD BE SET TO NIL BY THE USER IF UNDEFINED
    FUNCTION OBJECT ERRORS ARISE IN PREVIOUSLY FUNCTIONING PROGRAMS.
    NOTE THAT SINCE FUNCTIONAL VARIABLES ARE GOING TO BE FLUSHED ALL TOGETHER
    AT SOME FUTURE DATE, IT IS BEST LEAVE THE FLAG ON IN ORDER TO INSURE THAT
    YOUR PROGRAMS WILL FUNCTION CORRECTLY WHEN FUNCTIONAL VARIABLES ARE
    COMPLETELY REMOVED.

[!] AS E^88.0 IS INDEED REPRESENTABLE, IT HAS BEEN DECIDED TO EXTEND THE
    LEGAL INPUT VALUES FOR THE EXP FUNCTION.  NOTE THAT THE ACCURACY OF THIS
    FUNCTION AT THE HIGHER VALUES MIGHT BE REDUCED.