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new-value argument setter functions



I would very much prefer to have the new-value argument to setter
functions be the first argument instead of the last.  The problem is
felt when there are #rest args.  This results in ugly arglists (e.g.,
indices-and-new-value for `aref') and it gets ugly to strip off that
last arg and it costs in time and sometimes in space (for consing a
new list).  Maybe this wouldn't cost for builtin functions like `aref'
that have special compiler support, but it will for user-defined
functions.  The new-value argument really doesn't belong there: it's
not part of the #rest args.  One might want to dispatch on its type as
well (or at least be able to declare its type) and currently that is
impossible.  

-- jonathan bachrach

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