now that the technical conversation is complete :
wasn't there a discussion that included T-Shirt slogans and had a definitive resolution to this topic ??
I don't know if there was a `resolution' so-to-speak but I do seem to recall being called a few names, generally picked on and abused though. *sniff* *sob* ...I still wake in the middle of the night sometimes.
However, if we are voting on a `resolution' I vote we ship MP back to the 1980's (he be mean).
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Pertaining to the "COND is ~10% slower" issue. I don't recall but would making a DEFUN speed up the process a bit (I doubt this will work but I just wanted to offer up something to see if there was any extra information you guys failed to give up).
For example: I remembered--and found--that goofy AIF function I made.
(defun aif ( var expr iffalse )
;; anaphoric-if
;; EX:
;; (aif 'a (getint "\nEnter new value [1]: ") 1)
;; (aif 'a a 2)
;;
(set var (cond (expr) (iffalse))) )