(eq #'eq #'eq)

[System Files <SYS@SAIL.Stanford.EDU>]

Received: from RELAY.CS.NET by SAIL.Stanford.EDU with TCP; 15 Sep 88  09:09:45 PDT
Received: from relay2.cs.net by RELAY.CS.NET id aa24766; 15 Sep 88 10:45 EDT
Received: from draper.com by RELAY.CS.NET id aa09139; 15 Sep 88 10:34 EDT
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 88 07:26 EDT
From: "Steve Bacher (Batchman)" <SEB1525@draper.com>
Subject: (eq #'eq #'eq)
To: common-lisp@SAIL.STANFORD.EDU
X-VMS-To: COMMON-LISP,SEB1525

Thanks, JonL.  I was pleased to hear that it is conceivable for a valid CL
implementation not necessarily to return the same object for 
(SYMBOL-FUNCTION foo) all the time.  This has ramifications for
autoloading schemes:  if the function definition for a symbol FOO is
autoloaded, then the initial contents of the "function cell" of FOO would
contain a FOO-autoloader, or perhaps some kind of null value; therefore
just loading up the function cell twice would not result in the same (EQ)
pointer under such circumstances.  Such freedom is probably necessary in
order to support function autoloading on (formerly much-maligned until
recent developments in the business world) "stock hardware".