Using the new common Lisp pretty printer

Abstract

Although not part of the initial definition of the language, pretty printing has been an important feature of Lisp programming environments for twenty years or more [1]. By the time Common Lisp was being defined, the importance of pretty printing was clear enough that pretty printing was made a formal part of the language [2]. However, little was done beyond recognizing the least common denominator of the pretty printing facilities available at the time---[2] specifies how pretty printing can be turned on and off, but says very little else. In particular, no provision was made for allowing the user to control what the pretty printer does.