CLHS: Issue ARGUMENTS-UNDERSPECIFIED Writeup

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## Issue ARGUMENTS-UNDERSPECIFIED Writeup

    Issue:        ARGUMENTS-UNDERSPECIFIED
    References:   LOGBITP (p 224), MAKE-DISPATCH-MACRO-CHARACTER (p 363),
                  MAKE-HASH-TABLE (p 283), MAKE-SEQUENCE (p 249), READ (p 375)
                  MAKE-STRING (p 302), NTHCDR (p 267), PARSE-INTEGER (p 381),
                  SET (p 92)
                  Issue: RANGE-OF-START-END-PARAMETERS.
    Category:     CLARIFICATION
    Edit history: 26-Aug-88, Version 1 by Chapman
                   4-Sep-88, version 2 by Masinter
                  19-Sept-88, Version 3 by Chapman
                  21-Sep-88, Version 4 by Masinter

    Problem Description:

    The descriptions of LOGBITP, MAKE-DISPATCH-MACRO-CHARACTER, READ, SET,
    MAKE-HASH-TABLE, MAKE-SEQUENCE, MAKE-STRING, NTHCDR, and PARSE-INTEGER
    are not clear about the types of the arguments supplied to these
    constructs.

    Proposal (ARGUMENTS-UNDERSPECIFIED:SPECIFY)

    Clarify that the arguments for the listed constructs are as follows:

    Construct                Argument	                 Type
    LOGBITP                   index		      non-negative integer
    MAKE-DISPATCH-MACRO-CHARACTER 	char		      character
    MAKE-HASH-TABLE            size	 	      non-negative integer
    MAKE-SEQUENCE              size		      non-negative integer
    MAKE-SEQUENCE              type		      type specifier
    MAKE-STRING                size                non-negative integer
    MAKE-STRING                initial-element	 string-char
    NTHCDR                     n		           non-negative integer
    SET-SYNTAX-FROM-CHAR       to-char,from-char   characters
    READ and others            eof-value	      any value
    SET                        value		      any value

    (MAKE-HASH-TABLE, MAKE-SEQUENCE, MAKE-STRING have additional constraints on
    their respective SIZE arguments; for example, MAKE-STRING may detect an error if
    SIZE is greater than or equal to ARRAY-DIMENSION-LIMIT. Some additional
    restriction on the range of characters which can have syntax in readtables
    and are allowable to MAKE-DISPATCH-MACRO-CHARACTER SET-SYNTAX-FROM-CHAR might
    be required in some other proposal.)

    Rationale:

    This clarification allows predictible results to occur when
    arguments are supplied to these constructs.

    Current Practice:

    This proposal seems to be in line with current implementations.

    Cost to Implementors:

    None, since this is consistent with current practice.

    Cost to Users:
    None, since this is consistent with current practice.

    Benefits:

    This clarification will assist users in writing portable code.

    Aesthetics:

    The standard would be less clean were the allowed ranges of its functions not
    specified.

    Discussion:

    There is a separate cleanup proposal RANGE-OF-START-END-PARAMETERS which
    addresses a possible incompatible change. This proposal contains what we
    think are non-controversial clarifications.

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