Beni Cherniavsky  <cben@crosswinds.net> wrote:
+---------------
| >  ((lambda (x y . z) z)
| >      3 4 5 6)                              ==>  (5 6)
| > Note that there must be at least one formal argument preceeding the '.' !
| 
| Actually this is an improper list: the last cdr isn't ().  The simplest
| improper list consists of only one value - then it's not written as
|    (a b c . rest)
| but as
|    rest
| In other words you *can* have a function with all arguments possible,
+---------------

Correct so far, if you're talking about the (lambda rest body...) form.

+---------------
| it just won't fit into the above notation:
|    (define (function rest) ...)
+---------------

Uh, no, sorry. The shorthand define form still *does* use a dot, because
of the procedure name. That is, the following two are the same:

	(define foo (lambda rest body...))
	(define (foo . rest) body...)

[Hint: What is (cdr '(foo . rest))?]


-Rob

-----
Rob Warnock, 31-2-510		rpw3@sgi.com
SGI Network Engineering		http://reality.sgi.com/rpw3/
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy.		Phone: 650-933-1673
Mountain View, CA  94043	PP-ASEL-IA