Functions

[Dick Gabriel <RPG@SAIL.STANFORD.EDU>]

Larry writes:

``It is wrong to say that call-next-method "is a function", because that
terminology is used exclusively in CLtL to mean that the symbol has a
global function definition with the given interpretation.''

Larry's right about this, but this wording might be a little misleading.
He is contrasting the phrase ``is a function'' with ``is a macro'' and
``is a special form.'' In our document, we mention that this, that, or the
other thing is a function or a generic function.

Of course, Common Lisp does state that there are global names and local
names for functions, so one could have functions that are stored in
no function cell.

CALL-NEXT-METHOD is a function in the local-name sense in that it is
only an accessible function within method combination defining macros.
There should be some other phrase to describe this, I suppose.

			-rpg-