Re: [Chicken-hackers] remove symbol extra-slot feature and add general symbol property-lists?

[Andre Kuehne]

felix winkelmann wrote:
> Yes or no?

Just out of curiosity: What's the genuine advantage of an extra-slot and/or 
property-lists
over using a hash-table? Some things that come to my mind are:

- performance: an extra-slot is faster than a table-lookup, which on the other 
hand scales
 better than a-lists.

- standardization: if you need to attach some extra information, which might 
get used by third
 parties, a property list is an obvious choice. On the other hand one could 
also declare some
 standard facility based on hash tables and save the extra slot.

- history/aesthetics/politics: hash tables are not so natural to lisp like 
a-lists.

Is there more to it?

Best whishes
Andre