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Scott G. Miller wrote:
Why, though, is the escape code format so complicated?
Because we want to be compatible with existing implementations.
Surely something simpler could be imagined, ~r<n> for example, which when immediately preceding a value-requiring escape code requests that it retrieve the <n>'th argument.
That doesn't work if the value-requiring escade code can take a
parameter, which in Common Lisp (and existing Scheme implementations)
is almost all of them.
In any case, I don't think "~rNa" is enough of an improvement
over "~N@*~a" to justifying inventing a new convention. Yes,
it might have been better if Common Lisp made '@' ("absolute
goto") the default, but they didn't.
--
--Per Bothner
per@xxxxxxxxxxx http://www.bothner.com/per/