Dovina3 Mar 2005

Thank you for a remarkable commentary on my poem, my ability as a LISP programmer, and on LISP itself. Particularly interesting is your pointing out that all of my variables are global since they are not defined locally. I suppose you are right since no variables are used in the hunger function - not locally as they would be with (defun hunger eat sleep crap . . .) or somesuch, nor are any global variables assumed by not being so defined. So that tells me about how much you know about LISP.

Also, it is very common for a programmer to comment on a close paren, especially if several lines separate it from its open paren. As you may not know, every open paren in LISP must be followed eventually by a close paren which completes the command. Placing the close paren on a new line with a comment telling which open paren it closes is therefore good practice and makes the code easier to maintain.

I tried to keep the program simple, avoiding parameter passing and uncommon commands that manage linked lists, coordinate searches and the like, but I see it is not simple enough.

Of course nobody can dispute your expertise in swellington poemes and your ability to determine failure in all things poetic and LISP.