Re: DEFSTRUCT copier query

[Danny Bobrow <Bobrow.pa@Xerox.COM>]

        Date: Mon, 3 Nov 86 10:54 EST From: Rob MacLachlan
        <RAM@C.CS.CMU.EDU>

            Date: Monday, 3 November 1986  10:17-EST From:
            <samalone at ATHENA.MIT.EDU>

            (copy-bread (make-rye-bread :state 'stale :seeded-p
    nil))

                 A:	#S(RYE-BREAD :STATE STALE :SEEDED-P
            NIL) or
                 B:	#S(BREAD :STATE STALE)

        Since there doesn't seem to be any support for B, no
        one can complain if you implement A, although it may not be
        required for Common Lisp.

    I can complain, and I would.  I am strongly of the opinion that
    the function COPY-BREAD here should always create a value of type
    BREAD, not one of its subtypes.  If you want to get the effect of
    A, let us create a new function COPY that copies any Lisp value at
    all.  It seems strange to have several such functions, one for each
    section of the type space. I claim that such a function, along with
    COPY-BREAD having semantics B above, would provide all of the
    functionality desired in the cleanest way.

    	Pavel

Within the new emerging Common Lisp Object Standard, COPY will be
specified as a generic function that copies its argument, producing an
instance of the same type.  Functions such as copy-bread would be an
anomaly, but could mean what Pavel suggested.


-- danny