No namespaces in Lisp

1 points by ballpark 17y ago ↗ HN

What are your thoughts on no namespaces in Lisp? Most languages that I like and use have packages, and I feel that helps organize the code. Does lisp have something like that? It doesn't appear that it does, how do you deal with that?

3 comments

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wglb 17y ago ↗

Yes, Lisp has packages. A google search for "lisp packages" finds http://www.flownet.com/ron/packages.pdf which, despite the title, is useful even for those of us who do not consider ourselves idiots.

vorador 17y ago ↗

Scheme since r6rs has a standardized namespace facility.

silentbicycle 17y ago ↗

Several prominent Scheme implementations have package / namespace systems. They couldn't agree on one system when R5RS was written, so it was left open for experimentation.

(Whether or not it would be better to have a standard, central packaging system is another matter entirely.)

Emacs Lisp doesn't, though, and it's (IMHO) a major failing of the language.