Well, maybe 'very different' was an overstatement =). One way to look at it is that we should use single-use functions as far as possible to keep code straight

Well, maybe 'very different' was an overstatement =). One way to look at it is that we should use single-use functions as far as possible to keep code straightforward. And as jpr said, LET* can potentially promote bad style, giving one the inclination to mix functional and imperative styles in a potentially troublesome fashion. I think it was in 'On Lisp' that PG said that use of LET* should be minimised for the reasons above. But if not, you're right. Use LET* just as you mentioned, but don't use LET* for all cases. Some discussion available @ Stack Overflow: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/554949/let-versus-let-in-common-lisp http://stackoverflow.com/questions/554949/let-versus-let-in-...