Re: Why isn't the string returned by symbol-name read-only?

["Davis Herring" <herring@lanl.gov>]

> That returns in an error when you try to evaluate it. The object
> returned by (symbol-name 'car) must have some read-only bit set.
>
> Why isn't that bit set for *all* symbol names?

It's set for that string not because `car' is too important to be changed,
but because it was created before Emacs was dumped.  (Of course, it is
created that early because it is important.)  Making such strings
read-only saves the time in checking whether they might need
garbage-collection later.  So it's purely an optimization; it's not meant
to protect anything.

Davis

-- 
This product is sold by volume, not by mass.  If it appears too dense or
too sparse, it is because mass-energy conversion has occurred during
shipping.