;; current SXEmacs implementation

(defun delete-word (&optional count)
  "Delete characters forward until encountering the end of a word.
With optional argument COUNT, do this that many times."
  (interactive "*p")
  (delete-region (point) (save-excursion (forward-word count) (point))))

(defun backward-delete-word (&optional count)
  "Delete characters backward until encountering the end of a word.
With argument, do this that many times."
  (interactive "*p")
  (delete-word (- (or count 1))))