On reading zl syntax files from cl --

[barmar@Think.COM (Barry Margolin)]

    Date: Thu, 7 Nov 1991 03:23 EST
    From: starnet!bass!lakin@apple.com (Fred Lakin)

    of course, one of the first things i tried was

      (let ((*readtable* zl:readtable))
       ...)

    which didnt. Thus i spent much time looking for more obscure solutions,
    finally gave up and msged slug. This must be a frequently answered question,
    but why does si:standard-readtable work and not zl:readtable when my
    machine says they are EQ?

I just tried (eq 'si:standard-readtable 'zl:readtable) and it returned
NIL, so the symbols aren't EQ (symbols with different names can never be
EQ).  What you presumably mean is that at some time (eq
si:standard-readtable zl:readtable) returned T, which is not the same
thing, since values can change.  You were probably in a Zetalisp context
when you tried it.  Go into a Common Lisp context and try it, and it
should return NIL.

ZL:READTABLE is the variable that holds the *current* readtable; it is a
synonym for LISP:*READTABLE* (their value cells are actually linked).
SI:STANDARD-READTABLE is the variable that holds the default standard
Zetalisp readtable.  When you go into Zetalisp syntax, the system
essentially does (setq zl:readtable si:standard-readtable).

                                                barmar