Re: Using the GNU GMP Library for Bignums in Emacs

[Stefan Monnier]

>   > I think Emacs should move in this direction: define `eq` to be the same
>   > as `eql`, then check every use of EQ in the C code to see if it will
>   > necessarily behave identically to "EQL" and where it doesn't, replace it
>   > with EQL.
>
> This is a lot of work and will slow down some loops.

It's hard to tell without measuring it first.  And I'd expect that
many/most of those loops can be made fast anyway (e.g. member/memql can
delegate to `memq` when the argument is such that eq/eql/equal behave
identically).

> I would rather try the obvious approach: eq treats bignums like floats.

While I'm writing this within the GMP thread, it's orthogonal.


        Stefan