Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!forsight!gat
From: gat@robotics.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Eran Gat)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: Re: READ and upper/lower case symbol print names
Summary: No, it can't be done.
Message-ID: <379@forsight.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
Date: 19 Dec 89 19:15:37 GMT
References: <23295@brunix.UUCP>
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 19

In article <23295@brunix.UUCP>, mj@cs.brown.edu (Mark Johnson) writes:
> Is there an easy way to modify the lisp READ function so that
> it does not always convert lower case letters to upper case
> in symbol names?

On page 337 of Steele, step 7 of the reader algorithm specifies that
all lowercase letters are converted to upper case.  (I discovered this
after wasting four hours trying to figure out why my tildes were being
turned into c-cediles in MacIntosh Allegro CL.)  The only way to get
lower case letter in symbol names is to use the \ or || escapes.

> Reflecting on the issue as I was walking in this morning, it seemed
> to me that the readtable would be the logical place for the 
> case conversion to be specified.  But it seems as if they are
> hardwired into the reader itself.  If this is so, why?

Good question!

Erann Gat       gat@robotics.jpl.nasa.gov       (818) 354-4203