[cl-faq] setf

[Jean-François Brouillet]

Q: Why is SETF called that?

A: In the beginning we had             SET

    But then it was found to be too slow.

    So we came up with a Quick version: SETQ

    But that was still too slow.

    Since Raw speed was critical, the next
    version was called                  SETR

    Then, someone took it upon himself to
    write a really Speedy version       SETS

    Unfortunately, those versions were never released.

    When, much later, the community came back to its
    sense, they settled on a less grandiose naming.
    They also sensed the the end of the alphabet was
    in sight, so they decided to start over from the
    first letter: A.                    SETA

    But that was too ambiguous. They needed a Fast
    solution out of this mess:          SETF was born.

:-)
--
Jean-François Brouillet
verec at mac.com