Slices time complexity

[Marko Rauhamaa]

Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info>:

> On Wednesday 20 May 2015 19:56, Bartc wrote:
>> But simple data such as small integers and floats are passed by
>> value. Bigger data is 'sort of' passed by reference, but not full
>> reference (the details are a bit messy, but if an object consists of
>> two parts (A,B), then a copy of descriptor A is passed, which
>> contains a pointer to B. For small scalars, the B part doesn't
>> exist).
>
> Sounds complicated and confusing. In my opinion, you would be better
> off picking a well-known argument passing convention (call by value,
> reference, name, sharing) and using that, always.

I wonder if BartC refers to the conceptual model or implementation.
Elisp uses the waste bits of pointers as flags; (small) integers are
represented as fake (illegal) pointers. However, the implementation
choice is in no way visible at the Lisp level.


Marko