The function compile takes a symbol as its first argument, and an interpreted function definition (a lambda expression) as its second, optional, argument. It compiles the definition and installs the resultant code as the symbol-function of the symbol (unless the symbol was
nil
). If the definition is omitted then the current symbol-function of the symbol is used. Below are some examples:
CL-USER 3 > (compile (defun fred (a b)
(dotimes (n a) (funcall b))))
; FRED
FRED
NIL
NIL
CL-USER 4 > (funcall (compile nil '(lambda (n)
(* n n))) 7)
; NIL
49
CL-USER 5 > (compile 'ident-fun '(lambda (x) x))
;IDENT-FUN
IDENT-FUN
NIL
NIL