Include a split-sequence library

[svetlyak40wt]

It is used by many libraries and some other utility libraries copy the functions from split-sequence.

[digikar99]

EDIT:

• Thread conclusion: split-sequence will be added, but owing to its small size, it'd share the page with other smallish libraries not-yet-known-to-me.

• quickdocs provides a nice way to determine community consensus of (at least utility) libraries.

• a tangential discussion of "batteries included" common lisp image

---

I haven't used it, but often find cl-ppcre:split and str:split sufficient. Are there any benefits to split-sequence?

I also noted that there are just three functions in there, so not worth a separate page either, unless you are referring to other unexported functions.

[digikar99]

What might be worth mentioning rather is Common Lisp Utilities - or cl-utilities.

[svetlyak40wt]

I haven't used it, but often find cl-ppcre:split and str:split sufficient. Are there any benefits to split-sequence?

str and cl-ppcre work with strings, but split-sequence is able to work with strings, lists and vectors.

Also, I found yesterday that split-sequence functions were copied to a number of CL libraries. For example into the cl-utilities. However, split-sequence is maintained by https://github.com/sharplispers and evolve in time.

[digikar99]

work with strings, lists and vectors.

Oh, right, had forgotten about the non-string sequences. A brief performance testing suggests, on SBCL 2.0.4, cl-utilities version is faster for strings and vectors and split-sequence for lists.

split-sequence is also said to have support for extended-sequences. cl-utilities v1.2.4 seems to be from 2006 (probably doesn't matter, other than the extended-sequence), and is quite redundant with alexandria.

Is there any consensus in the community about the usage of these two?

EDIT: Statistics from Feb 2018 suggest that split-sequence is highly used than cl-utilities.) Also, quickutil.

[phoe]

• split-sequence has a large number of transitive dependencies since it's an ollllld library; it is, AFAIR, in the top 10 or so of all Quicklisp systems. It's also very simple - it is e.g. impossible to split "abcdAAefghAAijkl" by a two-character delimiter "AA" using only split-sequence.
• cl-ppcre is a regex library that has splitting sequences only as one of its functionalities.
• str is a more general-purpose string manipulation library that could just as easily be a vector manipulation library - see Generalize to vectors vindarel/cl-str#49.

[digikar99]

Okay, will include split-sequence, but not on a separate page on its own due to its smallish size - would, include other utility libraries as well. (Any suggestions?)

On a tangent: is there a "batteries-included" common lisp image somewhere?

[svetlyak40wt]

What do you mean saing "a "batteries-included" common lisp image"?

[phoe]

I don't think there is. I plan on creating one someday, but that is a far-fetched goal.

[defunkydrummer]

I don't think there is. I plan on creating one someday, but that is a far-fetched goal.

I was thinking of exactly the same idea a few days ago.

[defunkydrummer]

Is there any consensus in the community about the usage of these two?

Objective answer:

http://quickdocs.org/split-sequence/

Used by 109 libs on the ecosystem.

[phoe]

I was thinking of exactly the same idea a few days ago.

Perfect. Let us collaborate when my book is complete.

[svetlyak40wt]

What kind of "image" are you talking about guys?

Why do somebody need a "batteries included" where there are plenty of libraries in Quicklisp?

[phoe]

I was thinking of not really an "image" but more like a "distribution".

You say there are plenty of libraries but I say there are no sane defaults; whereas languages like Haskell or Rust have rather huge standard libraries, Common Lisp has no standard library other than the standard itself. It instead relies on a diaspora of libraries which are not named like std.string, std.gc, std.threads, std.sockets, std.mop, std.gray-streams but instead have fancy and counterintuitive names like alexandria, split-sequence, trivial-garbage, bordeaux-threads, iolib, closer-mop, trivial-gray-streams and so on. IMO that's a problem for Common Lisp in the contemporary times.

That's getting off-topic though - should we perhaps move that discussion elsewhere?

[digikar99]

arrows is another small utility library I love. Though, only five projects use it. Though, does anyone know why nesting -<> needs a full code-walker rather than just a tree traversal?

[phoe]

Could be worthy to make a separate issue for an arrow lib.