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SECTION 4
FUNCTION TYPES AND IMPLICIT PROGN
In INTERLISP, each function may independently have:
a. its arguments evaluated or not evaluated;
b. a fixed number of arguments or an indefinite number of
arguments;
c. be defined by an INTERLISP expression, by built-in machine
code, or by compiled machine code.
Hence there are twelve function types (2 x 2 x 3).
4.1 Exprs
Functions defined by INTERLISP expressions are called exprs. Exprs must
1
begin with either LAMBDA or NLAMBDA, indicating whether the arguments
to the function are to be evaluated or not evaluated, respectively.
Following the LAMBDA or NLAMBDA in the expr is the "argument list",
which is either
(1) a list of literal atoms or NIL (fixed number of arguments); or
(2) any literal atom other than NIL, (indefinite number of
arguments).
Case (1) corresponds to a function with a fixed number of arguments.
Each atom in the list is the name of an argument for the function
defined by this expression. When the function is called, its arguments
will be evaluated or not evaluated, as dictated by whether the
definition begins with LAMBDA or NLAMBDA, and then paired with these
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1
Where unambiguous, the term expr is used to refer to either the
function, or its definition.
4.1
2
argument names. This process is called "spreading" the arguments, and
the function is called a spread-LAMBDA or a spread-NLAMBDA.
Case (2) corresponds to a function with an indefinite number of
arguments. Such a function is called a nospread function. If its
definition begins with NLAMBDA, the atom which constitutes its argument
list is bound to the list of arguments to the function (unevaluated).
For example, if FOO is defined by (NLAMBDA X --), when
(FOO THIS IS A TEST) is evaluated, X will be bound to (THIS IS A TEST).
If a nospread function begins with a LAMBDA, indicating its arguments
are to be evaluated, each of its n arguments are evaluated and their
values stored on the pushdown list. The atom following the LAMBDA is
then bound to the number of arguments which have been evaluated. For
example, if FOO is defined by (LAMBDA X --) when (FOO A B C) is
evaluated, A, B, and C are evaluated and X is bound to 3. A built-in
function, arg[atm;m], is available for computing the value of the mth
argument for the lambda-atom variable atm. arg is described in section
8.
4.2 Compiled Functions
Functions defined by expressions can be compiled by the INTERLISP
compiler, as described in section 18, "The Compiler and Assembler". In
INTERLISP-10, functions may also be written directly in machine code
using the ASSEMBLE directive of the compiler. Functions created by the
compiler, whether from S-expressions or ASSEMBLE directives, are
referred to as compiled functions. In INTERLISP-10, compiled functions
may be resident or swappable, as described in section 3.
4.3 Function Type
The function fntyp returns the function type of its argument. The value
of fntyp is one of the following 12 types:
EXPR CEXPR SUBR
FEXPR CFEXPR FSUBR
EXPR* CEXPR* SUBR*
FEXPR* CFEXPR* FSUBR*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2
Note that the function itself can evaluate selected arguments by
calling eval. In fact, since the function type can specify only that
all arguments are to be evaluated or none are to be evaluated, if it
is desirable to write a function which only evaluates some of its
arguments, e.g. setq, the function is defined as an nlambda, i.e. no
arguments are evaluated in the process of calling the function, and
then included in the definition itself are the appropriate calls to
eval. In this case, the user should also put on the property list of
the function under the property INFO the value EVAL to inform the
various system packages such as DWIM, CLISP, PRINTSTRUCTURE, etc.,
that this function in fact does evaluate its arguments, even though
it is an nlambda.
4.2
The types in the first column are all defined by expressions. The types
in the second column are compiled versions of the types in the first
column, as indicated by the prefix C. In the third column are the
parallel types for built-in subroutines. Functions of types in the
first two rows have a fixed number of arguments, i.e., are spread
functions. Functions in the third and fourth rows have an indefinite
number of arguments, as indicated by the suffix *. The prefix F
indicates no evaluation of arguments. Thus, for example, a CFEXPR* is a
compiled form of a nospread-NLAMBDA.
A standard feature of the INTERLISP system is that no error occurs if a
spread function is called with too many or too few arguments. If a
function is called with too many arguments, the extra arguments are
evaluated but ignored. If a function is called with too few arguments,
the unsupplied ones will be delivered as NIL. In fact, the function
itself cannot distinguish between being given NIL as an argument, and
not being given that argument, e.g., (FOO) and (FOO NIL) are exactly the
same for spread functions.
4.4 Progn
progn is a function of an arbitrary number of arguments. progn
evaluates the arguments in order and returns the value of the last,
i.e., it is an extension of the function prog2 of LISP 1.5. Both cond
and lambda/nlambda expressions have been generalized to permit "implicit
progns" as described below.
4.5 Implicit Progn
The conditional expression has been generalized so that each clause may
contain n forms (n >= 1) which are interpreted as follows:
(COND
(P1 E11 E12 E13)
(P2 E21 E22) [1]
(P3)
(P4 E41))
will be taken as equivalent to (in LISP 1.5):
(COND
(P1 (PROGN E11 E12 E13))
(P2 (PROGN E21 E22))
(P3 P3) [2]
(P4 E41)
(T NIL))
Note however that P3 is evaluated only once in [1], while it is
evaluated a second time if the expression is written as in [2]. Thus a
clause in a cond with only a predicate and no following expression
causes the value of the predicate itself, if non-NIL, to be returned.
Note also that NIL is returned if all the predicates have value NIL,
i.e., the cond "falls off the end". No error is generated.
4.3
LAMBDA and NLAMBDA expressions also allow implicit progn's; thus for
example:
(LAMBDA (V1 V2) (F1 V1) (F2 V2) NIL)
is interpreted as:
(LAMBDA (V1 V2) (PROGN (F1 V1) (F2 V2) NIL))
The value of the last expression following LAMBDA (or NLAMBDA) is
returned as the value of the entire expression. In this example, the
function would always return NIL.
4.4