diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/ref/api-compound.texi')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/ref/api-compound.texi | 12 |
1 files changed, 8 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/doc/ref/api-compound.texi b/doc/ref/api-compound.texi index 27dbcbf53..379ae808a 100644 --- a/doc/ref/api-compound.texi +++ b/doc/ref/api-compound.texi @@ -105,10 +105,14 @@ Return 1 when @var{x} is a pair; otherwise return 0. The two parts of a pair are traditionally called @dfn{car} and @dfn{cdr}. They can be retrieved with procedures of the same name (@code{car} and @code{cdr}), and can be modified with the procedures -@code{set-car!} and @code{set-cdr!}. Since a very common operation in -Scheme programs is to access the car of a car of a pair, or the car of -the cdr of a pair, etc., the procedures called @code{caar}, -@code{cadr} and so on are also predefined. +@code{set-car!} and @code{set-cdr!}. + +Since a very common operation in Scheme programs is to access the car of +a car of a pair, or the car of the cdr of a pair, etc., the procedures +called @code{caar}, @code{cadr} and so on are also predefined. However, +using these procedures is often detrimental to readability, and +error-prone. Thus, accessing the contents of a list is usually better +achieved using pattern matching techniques (@pxref{Pattern Matching}). @rnindex car @rnindex cdr |