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RE: [External] : Re: Declaring Lisp function types
From: |
Drew Adams |
Subject: |
RE: [External] : Re: Declaring Lisp function types |
Date: |
Sun, 25 Feb 2024 17:16:43 +0000 |
> > In principle I believe we are interested in expressing the the
> argument
> > types and (maybe optionally) the return type.
>
> What's missing is the why. Do we actually want to put function type
> declarations in Lisp source at all? They will clutter up the code more
> than it is cluttered up at the moment.
>
> A ground principle of Lisp is that type checking is done at run time,
> not compile time. Your proposal seems to be changing that, although I
> don't know what the intention for using the type decorations is.
>
> I worry that these declarations will become frequent, even pervasive,
> and then effectively compulsory. Then we won't have Lisp any more,
> we'll have something more like C.
>
> I think somebody said somewhere that the declarations will be
> "voluntary", but things that start off voluntary have a nasty habit of
> first becoming pervasive, then all but universal, and then compulsory.
>
> As I said, I don't know what these declarations are for, but I think
> serious thought should be given to not implementing them.
Hi Alan,
This comes from Common Lisp (if not older relatives).
Please see this in general, and in particular about
declarations being voluntary, and their purpose(s):
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/Groups/AI/html/cltl/clm/node103.html#SECTION001300000000000000000
In particular, the intro paragraph tells us:
Declarations allow you to specify extra information
about your program to the Lisp system. With one
exception, declarations are completely optional and
correct declarations do not affect the meaning of a
correct program. The exception is that special
declarations do affect the interpretation of variable
bindings and references and so must be specified
where appropriate. All other declarations are of an
advisory nature, and may be used by the Lisp system
to aid the programmer by performing extra error
checking or producing more efficient compiled code.
Declarations are also a good way to add documentation
to a program.
Keep in mind that Common Lisp is not a particular
implementation. It's a spec/standard, which particular
implementations can support/implement in different ways.
Re: Declaring Lisp function types, Andrea Corallo, 2024/02/24
Re: Declaring Lisp function types, Alan Mackenzie, 2024/02/25
Re: Declaring Lisp function types, Richard Stallman, 2024/02/25
Re: Declaring Lisp function types, Andrea Corallo, 2024/02/26