Subject: Re: [lisp] Intro doc - to split, or not to split

From: [email-masked] (Noel Chiappa)
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 08:59:02 -0400 (EDT)

> From: Fabio Maino <[email-masked]>

    > The way I read the charter, we're asked to provide an intro to LISP
    > that would guide the reader through the various docs of the LISP
    > specification. I believe the doc, up to section 7, does a pretty good
    > job in addressing that requirement.

Mmm. Perhaps; I'd have to go re-read it. It was certainly not written with
that goal in mind, and I can think of at least one document (multicast) which
is not coverered there.

    > Did you consider including part II in the perspective document? It
    > seems that the more details provided there may fit the interest of a
    > reader willing to know more about LISP.

I had never considered it; and I don't think it would be a very good fit. The
reason is that the two documents are of a _very_ different character: the
first mostly talks about 'what LISP looks like', and the second is mostly all
about 'why LISP looks the way it does'. I think I'd rather have three
documents, than put that detailed (sic) description of LISP operations in
with the perspective content.

    > One possible way to do the integration would be to reuse most of
    > section 7 from the current doc. You could use that as a preamble, where
    > you describe a packet's processing, while you refer to the introduction
    > for a more formal introduction of terms and definitions.

If we did decide to split the intro document, that's certainly perhaps the
best idea I've seen so far as to how to create a reasonable lead-in to that
material, in a stand-alone document.

	Noel