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<H2>Issue SETF-GET-DEFAULT Writeup</H2>
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<PRE><B>Issue:</B> <A HREF="iss306.htm">SETF-GET-DEFAULT</A><P>
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<B>References:</B> <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A> of <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_get.htm#get"><B>GET</B></A> (CLtL-II p. 240)<P>
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<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A> of <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_getf.htm#getf"><B>GETF</B></A> (CLtL-II p. 242)<P>
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<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A> of <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_gethas.htm#gethash"><B>GETHASH</B></A> (CLtL-II p. 438)<P>
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Related issues: Issue <A HREF="iss281.htm">PUSHNEW-STORE-REQUIRED</A><P>
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<B>Category:</B> CLARIFICATION<P>
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<B>Edit history:</B> V1, 12 Feb 1991, Sandra Loosemore<P>
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<P>
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<B>Problem description:<P>
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</B><P>
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In the descriptions of <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A> of <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_get.htm#get"><B>GET</B></A>, <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_getf.htm#getf"><B>GETF</B></A>, and <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_gethas.htm#gethash"><B>GETHASH</B></A>, it is stated<P>
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that the optional default argument is ignored by <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A>. It is not<P>
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clear whether this means that the *subform* corresponding to the<P>
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default argument that is ignored, or only the *result* of evaluating<P>
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the subform. The behavior is distinguishable in situations where the<P>
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subform has observable side-effects.<P>
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<P>
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<P>
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<B>Proposal (SETF-GET-DEFAULT:EVALUATED-BUT-IGNORED):<P>
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</B><P>
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Clarify that if the optional "default" argument is supplied in a call<P>
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to <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_get.htm#get"><B>GET</B></A>, <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_getf.htm#getf"><B>GETF</B></A>, or <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_gethas.htm#gethash"><B>GETHASH</B></A> appearing as a <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A> place, that subform<P>
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is evaluated according to the normal left-to-right evaluation rules for<P>
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subforms of a <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A> place. However, its value is ignored.<P>
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<P>
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<P>
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<B>Examples:<P>
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</B><P>
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#1: (<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>setf</B></A> (get 'foo 'message (print "hello world"))<P>
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"goodbye, cruel world")<P>
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=> prints "hello world"<P>
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<P>
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#2: (let ((x nil))<P>
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(<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>setf</B></A> (<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_getf.htm#getf"><B>getf</B></A> x 'message (<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_wr_pr.htm#print"><B>print</B></A> "hello world"))<P>
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"goodbye, cruel world"))<P>
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=> prints "hello world"<P>
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<P>
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#3: (let ((x (<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_mk_has.htm#make-hash-table"><B>make-hash-table</B></A> :test #'<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_eq.htm#eq"><B>eq</B></A>)))<P>
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(<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>setf</B></A> (<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_gethas.htm#gethash"><B>gethash</B></A> 'message x (<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_wr_pr.htm#print"><B>print</B></A> "hello world"))<P>
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"goodbye, cruel world"))<P>
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=> prints "hello world"<P>
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<P>
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<P>
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<B>Rationale:<P>
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</B><P>
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Discarding the form corresponding to the default argument would be<P>
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inconsistent with the rule that subforms of a <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A> place are<P>
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evaluated in left-to-right order.<P>
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<P>
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<B>Current Practice:<P>
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</B><P>
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Lucid version 4.0 does tests 1 and 3 correctly but fails on test 2.<P>
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Allegro version 3.1 performs all three tests correctly.<P>
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Symbolics Genera reportedly fails at least test 2.<P>
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<P>
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<B>Cost to Implementors:<P>
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</B><P>
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Minor.<P>
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<P>
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<B>Cost to Users:<P>
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</B><P>
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None.<P>
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<P>
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<B>Cost of non-adoption:<P>
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</B><P>
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Implementations will continue to differ for no good reason.<P>
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<P>
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<B>Performance impact:<P>
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</B><P>
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None.<P>
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<P>
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<B>Benefits:<P>
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</B><P>
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The language specification is made more precise and consistent.<P>
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<P>
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<B>Esthetics:<P>
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</B><P>
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Making the language more consistent is a good thing.<P>
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<P>
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<B>Discussion:<P>
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</B><P>
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Kent Pitman notes:<P>
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<P>
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Btw, someone (I think it was Allan Wechsler at Symbolics), that it<P>
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should be permissible for:<P>
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<P>
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(<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/s_let_l.htm#let"><B>LET</B></A> ((X '(A 1 B 2)))<P>
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(<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A> (<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_getf.htm#getf"><B>GETF</B></A> X 'C 3) 3)<P>
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X)<P>
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=> (A 1 B 2)<P>
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<P>
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because what the <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A> -really- says is to make sure that (<A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_getf.htm#getf"><B>GETF</B></A> X 'C 3)<P>
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will later return 3, which that value of X does. As such, I don't<P>
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even think the code should be ignored. I would prefer this<P>
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interpretation if we could get consensus, and would appreciate your<P>
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listing it as an option in your writeup, with me favoring it. Two<P>
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pieces of rationale you might add to the writeup are that (a) this<P>
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permits an application to be more space-conservative and (b) this<P>
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permits an application to not gratuitously modify pages of data that<P>
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don't really need to be modified, and hence may sometimes result in<P>
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smaller dumps or smaller working sets in some implementations that<P>
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either permit dumping an incremental image containing only the<P>
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modified pages, or that have an initial data set of copy-on-modify<P>
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pages.<P>
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<P>
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As a fall-back, I think your clarification would be an improvement<P>
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over the status quo. But I think it's not as elegant.<P>
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<P>
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Sandra Loosemore says:<P>
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<P>
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I think we'd need to spec this out very carefully. Should this <P>
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behavior be required or simply permitted? Does an explicit default <P>
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of <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_nil.htm#nil"><B>NIL</B></A> do the same thing as no default? Does only <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A> of <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/f_getf.htm#getf"><B>GETF</B></A> <P>
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behave this way, or should we generalize this to require/permit <P>
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*any* <A REL=DEFINITION HREF="../Body/a_setf.htm#setf"><B>SETF</B></A> place not to actually update the place unnecessarily?<P>
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In the general case, what predicate would be used to compare the <P>
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new value to the value that would be returned by the accessor? <P>
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While I agree this is an attractive idea on the surface, the more I <P>
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think about these questions, the more I become convinced that this <P>
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is an incompatible change and probably not a good idea overall.<P>
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-------<P>
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</PRE>
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