Common Lisp: An Interactive Approach (1992)
&gt; The existence of packages (multiple name spaces for symbols)<p>Sigh.  It is depressing to see this kind of mistake in a book targeted towards beginners.  There is already enough confusion around packages.<p>Packages are not &quot;multiple name spaces for symbols&quot;.  A namespace is a set of <i>bindings</i>, and so a namespace for <i>symbols</i> would be a set of bindings <i>for symbols</i>, and that is the definition of an <i>environment</i> [1], not a <i>package</i>.<p>A <i>package</i> maps <i>strings</i> onto symbols, so technically a package could be considered a set of bindings for strings, though no one actually thinks of them that way and they are never ever referred to that way.  Packages are data structures that map strings onto symbols.  That&#x27;s all.<p>One can only hope that this is an isolated mistake and not indicative of what goes on in the rest of the book.<p>---<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lispworks.com&#x2F;documentation&#x2F;HyperSpec&#x2F;Body&#x2F;26_glo_e.htm#environment" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lispworks.com&#x2F;documentation&#x2F;HyperSpec&#x2F;Body&#x2F;26_glo...</a>