Re: symbol equality --cl-rest-- help-function-arglist member vs member* and also equal, eql, and eq

[David Kastrup]

MON KEY <address@hidden> writes:

> Stephen
>> Apparently --cl-rest-- is an uninterned symbol.  This is done so that
>> the symbol cannot shadow an definition in code outside the cl-arglist
>> processing module.
>
> Miles
>> It looks like `--cl-rest--' is an uninterned symbol.
>> This is a good thing.
>
> Ok, thanks to you both for explaining.
>
> However, I'm not able to make that to jibe... still missing something
> I'm sure.
>
> I understand why there needs to be a reserved 'anonymous' symbol for
> the --rest-of-cl-- e.g. --cl-rest-- and that this symbol should remain
> uninterned but what I am missing on is why --cl-keys-- is converted to
> `cl-keys' whereas --cl-rest-- can't/isn't in the `cl-do-arglist'
> function? For example,
>
> In the following both `body' and `--cl-rest--' show as being interned whereas
> the `*-wombats' aren't:
>
> (intern-soft "body") ;=> t
> (intern-soft "--cl-rest--") ;=> t
> (intern-soft "scary-flying-wombats") ;=> nil

For what it's worth, cl-macroexpand-all uses the _symbols_ body and
--cl-rest--.  Note that even if you let-bind or lambda-bind a literal
symbol in Elisp, it gets interned permanently by the Lisp reader.

That does not mean that you can't use make-symbol to generate
_different_ symbols with the _same_ symbol-name.

-- 
David Kastrup