When reading the document today, I see there are two terms that are used for describing set.
In the following table:
http://www.newlisp.org/downloads/newlisp_manual.html#destructive
I find:
And when looking into the detail of set, I see
syntax: (set sym-1 exp-1 [sym-2 exp-2 ... ])
Evaluates both arguments and then assigns the result of exp to the symbol found in sym.
I am confused, is symbol same as variable?
I'm aware of the inconsistency too, since I sometimes find myself using the two terms interchangeably, although I don't think they're entirely equivalent, so I probably shouldn't...
A variable is an identifier for an object value, which could be either a boolean value, number, string, list, lambda-list, symbol or the machine address of a built in native function or operator.
In newLISP all variables are symbols but not all symbols are used as variables. For example int the following s-expression (symbolic expression):
... we have the symbols:
Manipulating symbols - not only their variable values - is unique to Lisp. So, although any symbol in newLISP could be used as a variable, not all of them are used that way.