Re: Could anyone explain why example no. 4 is different from the others?

[Philip Kaludercic]

Rodrigo Morales <moralesrodrigo1100@gmail.com> writes:

>  Could anyone explain why example no. 4 is different from the others?
> Example no. 1
>
> ,----
> | (append '(nil) '(nil) '(nil))
> `----
>
> ,----
> | (nil nil nil)
> `----
>
> Example no. 2
>
> ,----
> | (funcall 'append '(nil) '(nil) '(nil))
> `----

This is equivalent to example 1.

> ,----
> | (nil nil nil)
> `----
>
> Example no. 3
>
> ,----
> | (apply 'append '((nil) (nil) (nil)))
> `----

This is also equivalent to example 1.

> ,----
> | (nil nil nil)
> `----
>
> Example no. 4
>
> ,----
> | (apply 'append '(nil) '(nil) '(nil))
> `----

This is equivalent to

(funcall 'append '((nil) (nil) . (nil)))

or

(append '(nil) '(nil) nil)

because with apply, the last argument is used to call a function with
variadic arguments.

In general, (funcall 'foo a b c ...) is the same as (apply 'foo (list a
b c ...)).

> ,----
> | (nil nil)
> `----