(declare (type fixnum ---)) considered etc.

[Daniel L. Weinreb <DLW@QUABBIN.SCRC.Symbolics.COM>]

    Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1986  15:53 EDT
    From: Rob MacLachlan <RAM@C.CS.CMU.EDU>

	Almost every other language in the entire world has a "INTEGER"
    type which has an ill-defined, fixed precision.  If Common Lisp is
    going to have comparable performance to these languages when running
    on the same hardware, then it is going to have to be comparably
    inelegant.

Please demonstrate why ill-definition is crucial to good performance.

The fact that other languages are poorly-defined and non-portable do it
does not constitute a proof that it necesssary to be poorly-defined and
non-portable in order to perform well.

It's extremely easy for even a very dumb compiler to understand that a
program's declarations say that it needs at least 32 bits worth of
integer, and the hardware provides, say, 20 and 40, so it should use the
40-bit integers for the variable whose declaration says that it needs at
least 32.