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[Gcl-devel] call-arguments-limit


From: Camm Maguire
Subject: [Gcl-devel] call-arguments-limit
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 15:33:29 -0400

Greetings!

gcl currently does not enforce the arguments limit under certain
circumstances (i.e. when all arguments are pushed to the value stack),
but does not guarantee a valid call in *every* circumstance unless the
number of arguments is less than call-arguments-limit.  The Common Lisp
standard specifies that there be some implementation defined constant
limit, and that complying implementations will have this limit be at
least 50.  So gcl meets spec here.  I think if maxima wants to write to
the common lisp standard, it should not require more than 49 arguments
per call.

The internal reason for this limit in gcl stems ultimately from the
number of free bits in a type word that can specify the number of
arguments and their types.  We currently use all of 32 bits, so there is
no more room for expansion.

In any case, it is exceedingly simple to write any function with as
little as one argument -- just pass a list.

=============================================================================

5.3.12 call-arguments-limit                                    [Constant 
Variable]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Constant Value::
................

An integer not smaller than 50 and at least as great as the value of
lambda-parameters-limit, the exact magnitude of which is
implementation-dependent.

Description::
.............

The upper exclusive bound on the number of arguments that may be passed
to a function.

See Also::
..........

*note lambda-parameters-limit:: , *note multiple-values-limit::
=============================================================================

Take care,
-- 
Camm Maguire                                        address@hidden
==========================================================================
"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."  --  Baha'u'llah



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