Setf function names

Question

Reading this question got me thinking about what constitutes a valid car of an expression. Obviously, symbols and lambdas can be "called" using the usual syntax. According to the hyperspec,

function name n. 1. (in an environment) A symbol or a list (setf symbol) that is the name of a function in that environment. 2. A symbol or a list (setf symbol).

So, theoretically, (setf some-name) is a function name. I decided to give it a try.

(defun (setf try-this) ()
  (format t "Don't name your functions like this, kids :)"))

((setf try-this))
(funcall '(setf try-this))
(setf (try-this))

GNU CLISP, SBCL, and ABCL will all let me define this function. However, SBCL and ABCL won't let me call it using any of the syntaxes shown in the snippet. CLISP, on the other hand, will run the first two but still errs on the third.

I'm curious about which compiler is behaving correctly. Since SBCL and ABCL agree, I would hazard a guess that a correct implementation should reject that code. As a second question, how would I call my incredibly-contrived not-useful function from the code snippet, since the things I tried above aren't working portably. Or, perhaps more usefully,

As CLHS [3.1.2.1.2.3 Function Forms](http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Body/03_ababc.htm) says, function forms must have a symbol naming a function as the operator. — jkiiski, Jun 30 '18 at 00:24

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 30 '18 at 00:25

A SETF function has to take at least one argument, which is the new value to be stored in the place. It can take additional arguments as well, these will be filled in from arguments in the place expression in the call to SETF.

When you use SETF, it has to have an even number of arguments: every place you're assigning to needs a value to be assigned.

So it should be:

(defun (setf try-this) (new-value) 
    (format t "You tried to store ~S~%" new-value))
(setf (try-this) 3)
(funcall #'(setf try-this) 'foo)

You can't use

((setf try-this) 'bar)

because the car of a form does not contain a function name. It can only be a symbol or a lambda expression (although implementations may allow other formats as extensions).

Setf function names

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