[kazinator]

CL's conflation also means that can use NIL to indicate the absence of an object (in the usual situation in which NIL isn't a valid value). We can test for this absence glibly, using a conditional. This is at least as useful as the benefits in list recursion.

The Javascript design means that we cannot test for the absence of an integer in this manner, because a negative result could mean that a zero is present.

It could be handy from time to time. I propose a NAUGHT function for Lisp which returns true for empty sequences, empty hashes, zero (integer, real or complex) and any other nothing you can think of.

[lisper]

Sure, but if you want to make that argument then you have to deal with the fact that there is no false value which indicates the "absence of an object" in the case where the value being tested is a list. Having multiple false values really can be a feature. (They just shouldn't be integers!)