[net.lang.lisp] getchar vs substring functions in Franz Lisp

debray (12/17/82)

I had wanted to check the first character of a symbol-name, and found,
somewhat to my surprise, that the obvious
		(getchar s_name 1)
ran significantly slower than the more roundabout
		(substring (get_pname s_name) 1 1).
I ran some tests and found that over 100,000 executions, the getchar took
an average of 0.1265 ptime units, while the substring - get_pname combination
takes an average of 0.0965 ptime units. I must say that this goes against my
common sense and knowledge of LISP. Does anyone know why this happens?
					Saumya K. Debray
					SUNY at Stony Brook