How do you express any of the following constructs using only parentheses and symbols?
#:foo #.(foo) #+ FOO (bar) #- FOO (baz)
For the original Lisp, parentheses and symbols were all that was necessary. For more recent derivatives, that is not necessarily the case.
#+FOO (bar)
This could almost be: (when (member FOO features) (bar)) Just wrap it in an eval-when.