Re: [Gcl-devel] *features*

[Paul F. Dietz]

Michael Koehne wrote:

>   the other GNU Common Lisp's I tested [1] had every symbol in the
>   *feature* list prefixed with a ":". So UNIX should be :UNIX, even
>   if any of the reader macro's ignored the (non)existence of the ":",
>   when asking for #+UNIX. I now wonder, if the ":" prefix is necesary
>   by the ansi specs or just by the beauty of source.

From the CLHS, '*FEATURES*' page:

  "Symbols in the features list may be in any package, but in practice
   they are generally in the KEYWORD package. This is because KEYWORD
   is the package used by default when reading[2] feature expressions
   in the #+ and #- reader macros. Code that needs to name a feature[2]
   in a package P (other than KEYWORD) can do so by making explicit use
   of a package prefix for P, but note that such code must also assure
   that the package P exists in order for the feature expression to be
   read[2]---even in cases where the feature expression is expected to fail."

        Paul