No harm done. :) PicoLisp appears to have lexical scoping but dynamic binding, although my PLT is too weak to understand all the implications of that. From the FAQ:
> This is a form of lexical scoping - though we still have dynamic binding - of symbols, similar to the static keyword in C. [1]
> "But with dynamic binding I cannot implement closures!" This is not true. Closures are a matter of scope, not of binding. [2]
Sounds like transient symbols are essentially in a file-local namespace, which makes them lexically scoped (the lexical context being the file!), and that transient symbols are bound in the dynamic environment just like internal symbols are. So whenever lexical scope is needed, another file is used. Meanwhile, (====) can simulate a file break, making it a little less troublesome.
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)) ) )
