Re: manual terminology: `procedure', `function' etc.

[Maciej Stachowiak <mstachow@mit.edu>]

Tim Pierce <twp@skepsis.com> wrote:
> I don't know.  But it seems harmless to make the distinction, and one
> that might be potentially useful.  For that matter, what is the point
> of distinguishing between procedures and macros?  People seem more
> comfortable with that distinction, but it's not clear to me whether
> there's any practical value behind it.

Distinguishing procedures from macros is important because they can't
always be used the same way. You can't `apply' or `map' a macro, for
instance. It is also often important for the user to keep in mind that
macro arguments are not evaluated before the maro is applied.

The distinction between primitive and non-primitive procedures is less
important; there is no semantic difference between them, just a
possible performance difference.

 - Maciej Stachowiak