number of arguments

[e@flavors.com (Doug Currie, Flavors Technology, Inc.)]

A colleague asks:

>Do you know if the maximum number of arguments to MCL functions is
>defined somewhere? I was converting a list to a vector after finishing
>the list manipulation. I was just trying to save memory space.
>
>   (length (apply #'vector (make-list 1000)))
>
>works fine, but when it goes around 8000, I get strange results.
>
>Sometimes, I get a "too many args" lisp error.
>Most of the time, it just kills the Mac.

I have checked the MCL Reference and cannot find any implementation
specifics on &rest args or maximum number of arguments. Anybody know?

I do know that
 (apply #'vector lst)
 == (make-array (list (length lst)) :element-type t :initial-contents lst)
but I'm still curious about the maximum number of arguments to MCL functions.

e