making gf lambda lists

[David A. Moon <Moon@STONY-BROOK.SCRC.Symbolics.COM>]

    Date: Wed, 11 Nov 87 14:41 PST
    From: Gregor.pa@Xerox.COM

    I believe that we are going to want to introduce a support function
    called something like:
     make-generic-function-lambda-list-from-specialized-method-lambda-list

    This function will make it easier for programmers who are constructing
    their own methods and generic functions to get themselves a congruent
    generic function lambda list.  This functions will strip out
    specializers and optional defaults and remove uses of &key and &aux (and
    anything else I might have forgotten).

    Can anyone think of a better name for this function?

No name.

I have too much mail backlog to find it now, but I think I suggested
that the making of a generic function should accept any form of lambda
list and should strip it itself.  Maybe I only suggested that for
methods, but I think it should apply to both methods and generic
functions that you can hand in anything that can be coerced into the
right thing.  "Hand in" means as a :lambda-list argument to
ensure-generic-function or to make-instance of the appropriate class.

It's always a metter of philosophy whether to bring functions like
this that we know are in there someplace out into the open and give
them documented names.  I like the SETF approach, which says to
document only the ones that the user really has to know about.