Function

Summary

Compiles a lambda expression into a compiled function.

Package

common-lisp

Signature

compile name &optional definition => function , warnings-p , failure-p

Arguments

name

A function name or nil or a list.

definition

A lambda expression or a function.

Description

compile calls the compiler to translate a lambda expression into a code vector containing an equivalent sequence of host specific machine code. A compiled function typically runs between 10 and 100 times faster. It is generally worth compiling the most frequently called Lisp functions in a large application during the development phase. The compiler detects a large number of programming errors, and the resulting code runs sufficiently faster to justify the compilation time, even during development.

Warning messages are printed to *error-output* . Other messages are printed to *standard-output* .

definition and the return values are as specified for Common Lisp. Note that name may be a list not of the form (setf symbol ) , which is an extension to Common Lisp.

compile also supports a LispWorks-specific extension allowing compile to compile an arbitrary form. When definition is not supplied and name is a list not of the form (setf symbol ) , compile compiles it as if by compile-file but without any file related processing and does it in-memory, so it has also the same effect as loading. This has a similar effect to compiling a definition in the LispWorks Editor tool, except that there is no source recording. Multiple forms can be compiled in one call by wrapping them with progn . When compile is used this way it always returns nil .

Notes

A compiled function object may be returned. Such compiled function objects are not printable (but see disassemble) other than as #<Function FOO hex-address > .

Compatibility note

In LispWorks 5.1 and previous versions, warning messages are printed to *standard-output* .

Examples

(defun fn (...) ...) ; interpreted definition for fn

(compile 'fn)        ; replace with compiled 

                     ; definition

(compile nil '(lambda (x) (* x x))) 

                  ; returns compiled squaring function

(compile 'cube '(lambda (x) (* x x x)))

                  ; defun and compile in one

Notes

See declare for a list of the declarations that alter the behavior of the compiler.

See also

compile-file
disassemble
declare