Definition of "lisp form"?

Posted by josh on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by josh
Published on 2010-05-20T19:59:34Z Indexed on 2010/05/20 20:00 UTC
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Scheme

Hi,

What exactly the definition of a "Lisp form"?

As far as I know, it's "either an atom or a list that has a symbol as its first element".

But then, this (in Scheme) would not be a form:

((lambda () 42))  ;; The answer to Life, the Universe and Everything.

Because the first element of the list is itself another list. And after it's evaluated it will be a procedure (not a symbol).

I can find several different websites and tutorials talking about Lisp forms, but none which gives a complete and detailed definition. Where can I find one?

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