Re: Lambda Forms?

David McClain <dbm@refined-audiometrics.com> writes:

> Here's a real geek question...
>
> At various times over the past several decades I have migrated back
> and forth, between using #'(lambda ....) or simply stating  (lambda
> ...). After scouring the documentation this morning, and  examining
> the macro-expansions of these two form under various  conditions, it
> appears to me that they are completely equivalent  *EXCEPT* in the
> following circumstance...
>
> Let's say I define a macro that takes args and ultimately quotes some
> of them:
>
> 	(defmacro quoter (arg)
> 		`(quote ,arg))
>
> Then if I did the following:
>
> 	(quoter (lambda ....))
>
> I would end up with a quoted cons form.
>
> But if I did the following,
>
> 	(quoter #'(lambda ...))
>
> then I'd end up with a quoted closure.
>
> It appears that in all other situations the compiler automatically
> produces closures from lambda forms.
>
> Is this reading correct?

In both cases you'll end up with a quoted cons form. #' is a reader
macro expanding into (FUNCTION ...). The REPL may mislead you by
printing such forms as #'...