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3.1.3 *inferior-lisp* buffer

SLIME internally uses the inferior-lisp package to start Lisp processes. This has a few user-visible consequences, some good and some not-so-terribly. To avoid confusion it is useful to understand the interactions.

The buffer *inferior-lisp* contains the Lisp process's own top-level. This direct access to Lisp is useful for troubleshooting, and some degree of SLIME integration is available using the inferior-slime-mode. However, in normal use we recommend using the fully-integrated SLIME REPL and ignoring the *inferior-lisp* buffer.

An unfortunate property of inferior-lisp is it inserts some commands of its own directly into the lisp-mode keymap, such that they aren't easily disabled. This makes Lisp source buffers slightly schizophrenic, having both SLIME and inferior-lisp commands bound to keys and operating independently.

SLIME overrides most key bindings, so in practice you are unlikely to accidentally use an inferior-lisp command. If you do find a command that pops up the *inferior-lisp* buffer, that command doesn't belong to SLIME, and you should probably lookup our equivalent.