Per Bothner <xxxxxx@bothner.com> writes:
> Thomas Bushnell BSG wrote:
>> Alan Watson <xxxxxx@astrosmo.unam.mx> writes:
>>
>>> NaNs are atoms -- they have no context or stucture, just a single
>>> value. With the understandable exception of the eof object (and as
>>> has been noted, this is exception is not universal), Lisps and
>>> Schemes tranditionally provide read syntax for atoms. So, tradition
>>> suggests that we should have a read syntax for NaNs.
>> Hogwash. Procedures are atoms.
>
> Wrong. Closures can be modified.
Where is the Scheme function which modifies closures?
I was always taught that an atom is anything which is not a cons. :)
At least, the Little Lisper says so.
But that aside, NaNs could also have structure, as has been pointed
out; it could be useful for them to come with a tag identifying their
origin.
Thomas