Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Alan Watson (25 Oct 2005 11:02 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (25 Oct 2005 19:11 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Per Bothner (25 Oct 2005 19:22 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Alan Watson (25 Oct 2005 20:11 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Alan Watson (25 Oct 2005 20:12 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (25 Oct 2005 22:08 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Alan Watson (25 Oct 2005 20:28 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Alan Watson (25 Oct 2005 20:22 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Aubrey Jaffer (25 Oct 2005 21:54 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Alan Watson (25 Oct 2005 22:23 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Aubrey Jaffer (26 Oct 2005 02:25 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Alan Watson (26 Oct 2005 03:52 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Per Bothner (26 Oct 2005 05:46 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Taylor Campbell (26 Oct 2005 20:05 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago John.Cowan (26 Oct 2005 20:12 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Per Bothner (26 Oct 2005 20:38 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Thomas Bushnell BSG (26 Oct 2005 21:53 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Per Bothner (26 Oct 2005 22:13 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Thomas Bushnell BSG (26 Oct 2005 22:20 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Alan Watson (26 Oct 2005 23:31 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Per Bothner (27 Oct 2005 00:20 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Thomas Bushnell BSG (27 Oct 2005 03:20 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Per Bothner (27 Oct 2005 05:52 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Taylor Campbell (26 Oct 2005 23:51 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Per Bothner (27 Oct 2005 00:14 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Thomas Bushnell BSG (27 Oct 2005 03:21 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Per Bothner (27 Oct 2005 05:41 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Thomas Bushnell BSG (26 Oct 2005 21:52 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago John.Cowan (26 Oct 2005 22:14 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Thomas Bushnell BSG (26 Oct 2005 22:17 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Alan Watson (26 Oct 2005 06:15 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Per Bothner (26 Oct 2005 06:51 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Alan Watson (26 Oct 2005 07:15 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Per Bothner (26 Oct 2005 07:38 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Alan Watson (26 Oct 2005 07:49 UTC)
Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk (26 Oct 2005 09:09 UTC)

Re: Common Lisp solved this problem 20 years ago Per Bothner 27 Oct 2005 00:20 UTC

Thomas Bushnell BSG wrote:
> I thought the primary semantic of a type declaration was that it told
> the compiler what type the variable would be used to hold.  Now you
> also are using it for something other than a declaration, viz., a
> particular operation.
>
> Among other things, it slows things down because you have to test the
> result of the init to see whether coercion is necessary.

Not necessarily.  Sometimes the compiler can infer that the
coercion is a no-op or trivial.  And sometimes people can compile
in "unsafe" mode, just as with the Common Lisp model.

> More to the point, I object to the use of a type declaration which
> also signifies an operation.  Among other things, you lose one of the
> timing benefits of the type declaration.  Why not separate these two?
>
> Maybe you're using "declaration" to mean something wildly different
> from the Lisp meaning.

It is somewhat different, yes.  I'm not proposing "type
declarations" in the Common Lisp sense.  I use the word "declaration"
in the more usual "variable declaration" sense.  I'm adding optional
"type specifiers" to "variable declarations".
--
	--Per Bothner
xxxxxx@bothner.com   http://per.bothner.com/