Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!think!mintaka!bloom-beacon!THINK.COM!gls
From: gls@THINK.COM (Guy Steele)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme
Subject: () as an expression
Message-ID: <9001241620.AA04533@ungar.think.com>
Date: 24 Jan 90 16:20:48 GMT
References: <DIGEST.184.900124.021506.32@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU>
Sender: root@athena.mit.edu (Wizard A. Root)
Organization: The Internet
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   Message-ID: <1990Jan23.203035.148@vicom.com>
   Date: 23 Jan 90 20:30:35 GMT
   >From: Roderic Taylor <snorkelwacker!apple!vsi1!roderic@bloom-beacon.mit.edu>
   To: scheme@mc.lcs.mit.edu

   In a recent article Jason Coughlin (jk0@sun.soe.clarkson.edu) writes:
      Why is () an invalid expression?  It seems to me that it is a constant.

   () is not a constant.  '() is a constant (at least in the sense
   you're thinking).  This is the way Lisp works with all lists, not
   just the empty one.

Begging your pardon, but this is the way *Scheme* works with all lists.
As dearly as we may love Scheme, we must recognize that there are
other dialects of Lisp, some of greater seniority.
--Guy