From: Mark S McWhinney
Subject: Lisp style guide
Date: Tue, 09 Jun 1992 22:26:31 +0000
Message-ID: <1992Jun09.222631.227062@cs.cmu.edu>

Sorry if this is a frequently asked question, but is there a Lisp
style guide on line anywhere?  We are relatively new to Lisp and need
to have a common source for naming conventions, formatting,
indentation, etc.

Mark

From: Scott McKay
Subject: Lisp style guide
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1992 15:19:05 +0000
Message-ID: <19920610150557.7.SWM@DJINN.SCRC.Symbolics.COM>

    Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1992 18:26 EDT
    From: Mark S McWhinney <···@mse.cmu.edu>

    Sorry if this is a frequently asked question, but is there a Lisp
    style guide on line anywhere?  We are relatively new to Lisp and need
    to have a common source for naming conventions, formatting,
    indentation, etc.

The best way to get good Lisp indentation is to use an editor that
competently indents the code for you.  Since I presume you are not
using a Symbolics machine (which does a very good job), GNU Emacs is
an acceptable alternative.

As for naming, the best piece of advice I have is to pick a name that
describes what the function is doing, and don't worry if it's a bit
long.  Better too long than so terse that you can't figure it out.
Also, avoid using abbreviations -- they end up being confusing in the
long run.

You might also look at the source code for the Python Lisp compiler
(written right there at CMU).  In my opinion, it is a fine example of a
large program written using good Lisp style.