But the let example I gave a few comments ago didn't use a transient symbol. Why does it work?
I chatted with PicoLisp's author, Alexander Burger, yesterday on IRC. If I catch him again, I can ask for clarification about the scoping/binding quirks.
I think it works because while you're inside the let, you don't call anything that depends on a global function named x. :) That's in the FAQ too:
-
What happens when I locally bind a symbol which has a function definition?
That's not a good idea. The next time that function gets executed within the dynamic context the system may crash. Therefore we have a convention to use an upper case first letter for locally bound symbols:
(de findCar (Car List)
(when (member Car (cdr List))
(list Car (car List)) ) )
