Re: "Why is emacs so square?"

[Stefan Monnier]

>> I don't think the concept of "standard library" makes sense for Emacs
>> Lisp.  However, I conceptually divide the programming facilities
>> of Emacs into 
>>
>> * The Emacs Lisp language
>>
>> and
>>
>> * the editing facilities.

Because of how it evolved, there is clear separation.
And it's hard to retro-fit a distinction after-the-fact.
But I personally do think of the Elisp world as split into various "layers":

A- The core language itself.
B- The core standard library.
C- Extra libraries bundled with Emacs.
D- Extra libraries distributed in GNU ELPA.
E- Extra libraries distributed elsewhere.

Yet, I would be hard pressed to draw the separation between some of
those layers (and more so to "define" that separation).

>> I see buffers as part of the editing facilities, not part of the Emacs
>> Lisp language itself.

Great example: putting it in (B) makes sense, yet at the same time I'd
put buffer-local variables in (A), thus breaking the layering.

> I'm not sure I see that distinction, since Emacs Lisp as a language
> doesn't really make sense without the editing facilities.

There are other implementations of Elisp, some of which are not tied to
an editor, so it can make sense (see the paper Mike Sperber and I wrote
for HOPL-2020 for an example).  


        Stefan