Readers, methods, and congruent lambda lists

[konstan@elmer-fudd.berkeley.EDU (Joe Konstan)]

I recall this being discussed before on this list, but am afraid I don't 
remember the outcome.  Here is the problem:

I would like to define methods that take keywords and that have the same name
as slot-readers:  For instance:

(defclass foo ()
  ((a-slot :reader width)))

(defmethod width ((Self string) &key (font nil) &allow-other-keys
  (get-string-width self font))

This results in an error based on incongurent lambda lists:

Error: the method and generic function differ in whether they accept
rest or keyword arguments.


I've tried different forms of defgeneric, and still seem unable to resolve this.

I see three possibilities:

1.  There is a way to handle this that I an unaware of (i.e. telling the reader
to allow other keys).

2.  I should abandon the :reader definition and instead define a reader method
by hand using slot-value (do I lose the added efficiency a reader method
can have?).

3.  I should give up on the idea of keeping the names the same and rename
one or the other.

Ideas?

Joe Konstan
konstan@postgres.Berkeley.edu