Can I define a function/macro in emacs named .?

Question

I would like to define this function:

(defun . (object method &rest args)
 (apply (plist-get object method) args))

But, not surprisingly I get: if: Dot in wrong context

Not surprising because it looks like a cons cell and isn't. I can use some other character like @ or function name like dot, but it seems like it should be possible to use . too. Is there any way to do something like that?

The application is for a closure that defines a plist of functions, and I want something like a dot notation to access them.

This does work, but the double dot is a little unconventional from what I am used to:

(setq c (let ((counter 0))
      (list :inc (lambda (&optional dx)
               "Increment counter by DX (default=1)."
               (incf counter (or dx 1))))))


(defun .. (object method &rest args)
  (apply (plist-get object method) args))

(.. c :inc)

Answer 1

Yes, you can.

(defun \. (&optional n)
  "This is Lisp function `.'.
It just invokes`forward-char`."
  (interactive "p")
  (forward-char n))

C-h f . tells you about it.

M-x . RET invokes it interactively.

(\. 42) and (\.) invoke it from Lisp.

As you can see, you need to escape the . (with a backslash) when using the function name in Lisp.

Answer 2

The answer is: You can define a function named . but it does not help you much. The problem is not that you cannot define a function named . but that the evaluation of such a function is rather complicated.

(eval
 '(setq c (let ((counter 0))
        (list :inc (lambda (&optional dx)
             "Increment counter by DX (default=1)."
             (incf counter (or dx 1))))))
 t)

(fset (intern ".") (lambda (object method &rest args)
             (apply (plist-get object method) args)))

;;; Evaluation of the function named `.':
(funcall (intern ".") c :inc)

You cannot evaluate it as (. c :inc) because you get the "dot in wrong context"-error.