RE: using setq to create lists based on other lists...

[Drew Adams]

> I think the modern learner will expect "setq" to
> do what "let" does unless told otherwise.

"Modern learner"...  Why not just say Lisp learner? ;-)

How/why is "the modern learner" different here from
the learner of 2008, 1998, 1988, or 1978?  (Or `68
or `58, for that matter?)  Am I missing something?

Lexically bound, "ordinary", local variables are as
old as Fortran - nay, assembler.  Nothing particularly
modern about them, or about folks who are used to only
them.  They were even added to Lisp as long ago as the
'70s (at least).

Lisp is typically not a Lisp learner's first language.
Gunk accumulated on eyeballs can need to be scraped
off, to see more easily and clearly.