> 2) They do. But then you read actual programs available on the web and they still default to using alists. I was wondering how true this was, so I checked Pl

> 2) They do. But then you read actual programs available on the web and they still default to using alists. I was wondering how true this was, so I checked Planet Lisp. The first article is an admonition to use structures and classes _instead_ of alists, and it's followed by a bunch of other articles that use instances, structures, and hash tables. No a-lists to be found. I've used Lisp (mainly Clojure, but others also) and I don't even remember the last time I used an a-list, outside of maybe Emacs Lisp. As you point out, they're a mostly dumb idea in an age where there are better data structures and memory hierarchies are multi-leveled and often packet switched. I'll agree with you that it has been part of the Lisp culture, but that's the Lisp culture of the 70's and 80's. The language has moved on.