defun semantics

[Kent M. Pitman <KMP at MIT-MC>]

Yet another thing to think about is the 
 (DEFUN FACT (X) (COND ... (T ... (FACT ...) ... )))
 (SETF #'FOO #'FACT)
 (SETF #'FACT #'BAR)
phenomenon. My suspicion is that very few people ever want the behavior where
the recursive call to FACT gets BAR's definition. It would be nice if functions
were more easily renamed in this way.

GLS is right that this thwarts TRACE in its current form, but perhaps a 
scheme can be found for making TRACE do the right thing. I have some ideas
which I'll talk to people about off this list and maybe suggest later when
they're better thought out. But if this could be worked out, I think having
definitions closed over their original name is a good idea.