Re: Lisp Reader & Tools

They didn't actually escape notice.  #\U+2032 and #\U+2033 are unicode "prime"
characters, so software doesn't typically use them as quotes.  According to
the authors of Wikipedia, these primes are the correct characters to use for
arcminutes and arcseconds, so using them is good.

We have reader macros for #\U+2018 (as a backquote), #\U+2019 (as a quote) and
#\U+201C (as a double-quote, paired with #\U+201D) because some software auto
converts the ascii backquote, quote and double-quote into them, so it is
convenient to recognize them for cut and paste.  Ironically, it looks your
email client did this auto conversion in your keyboard sequences below!

-- 
Martin Simmons
LispWorks Ltd
http://www.lispworks.com/



>>>>> On Wed, 27 May 2026 15:29:47 -0700, David McClain (as dbm at refined-audiometrics dot com) said:
> 
> Found it!!
> 
> #\U+2032  (′) and #U+2033 (″).  These two seem to have escaped notice by LW. And so they can be used in symbol names and anywhere else you like, without confusing the Listener and Editor.
> 
> I have them assigned to keyboard sequences ^z-‘  and ^z-“ for easy access. My ^z- chords also map all the Greek alphabet.
> 
> 
> 
> > On May 27, 2026, at 14:31, David McClain <[email protected]> wrote:
> > 
> > And also, many times, I just want to copy/paste from a printout from some other source and have Lisp interpret what is shown. Hence the desire to have embedded quote and double quote in the angle input. To use #N/xx…/ means I have to pre-edit the printout before submitting to Lisp.
> > 
> > But… if we had an extensible Lexical Analyzer that could be tailored to the needs….
> > 
> > What Common Lisp presents is cutting edge for 1980’s and earlier. But not so much for today.
> > 
> >> On May 27, 2026, at 14:21, David McClain (as dbm at refined-audiometrics dot com) <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> 
> >> …and also because the Editor and Listener balks when your delimited run of chars contains an isolated or odd number of |, “, or an embedded \ that isn’t being used as an escape.  This speaks to the need for those bizarre comments that have to be inserted at strategic locations to get the listener and editor to allow you to execute or compile a sexpr.
> >> 
> >> And I’m hardly a purist CompSci person. I am someone that just wants keyboard convenience.
> >> 
> >>> On May 27, 2026, at 13:29, Tim Bradshaw (as tfb at cley dot com) <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>> 
> >>> On 27 May 2026, at 20:57, David McClain <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>>> That seems a purist Computer Scientist’s argument.
> >>> 
> >>> I just can't understand why, for instance, #D/xxyyzz/ is not OK, where 'xxyyzz' is some sequence containing the syntax you are interested in and '/' is any character.  I mean, only a purist computer scientist would object to the delimiters, surely?
> >>> 
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> >> 
> >> 
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