This chapter contained a wealth of new concepts. We explored the
complex special forms of quote and
lambda and in doing so looked at the plumbing of
the Emacs Lisp interpreter. The two stages of reading and evaluation
should make a little more sense than they did before.
If you’re still a bit perplexed, go back and step through the evaluation of each form. See if you can predict what the next evaluation step will be.
Along with the new Elisp constructs, we took a proper dive into the Emacs documentation. The shortdoc, manual and function descriptions will come in handy as you write your own Elisp tools.
We’ll learn more about lists in the next chapter. For now, give yourself a pat on the back and take a well-earned rest.