Subject: Re: EQ and FIXNUMS
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 14:20:37 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3210416436649880@naggum.net>

* Erik Haugan <erik@haugan.no>
> Anyway, since EQ is so cheap, I'm not sure it matters.

  eq is so cheap that it makes sense to inline a call to eq (i.e., make the
  direct machine-word comparison) and then call out to a function like
  eql-not-eq, which knows the values are not eq, to make the more complex
  comparison.  However, since the only relevant point of difference between
  eql and eq in the usual modern implementations is when comparing numbers
  with eachother, it might also make sense to limit testing to them and
  avoid the cost of a function call for other types.  I imagine that an
  implementation could optimize this very heavily with clever use of type
  codes if it really wanted to.

///
-- 
  Why did that stupid George W. Bush turn to Christian fundamentalism to
  fight Islamic fundamentalism?  Why use terms like "crusade", which only
  invokes fear of a repetition of that disgraceful period of Christianity
  with its _sustained_ terrorist attacks on Islam?  He is _such_ an idiot.