Which functions cannot be redefined after byte compilation?

Question

Given a function that calls not:

(defun my-not (x)
  (not x))

M-x disassemble gives:

byte code for my-not:
  doc:   ...
  args: (arg1)
0       dup       
1       not       
2       return    

I was surprised that this didn't do:

constant not
stack-ref 1
call 1

because otherwise I cannot redefine not and affect the original function.

I imagine this is done for performance. Which functions does apply to, and where it is it documented?

Answer 1

If you look at (symbol-plist 'not) you will see that it has a byte-opcode property with value byte-not. So the elisp compiler will use this rather than a general function call.

I have not looked for documentation.

If you look at the lisp/emacs-lisp/bytecomp.el file in the source you will find a whole series of byte-XXXX values which are used in this way, so for example (point-min) is also compiled to a single byte rather than a generic function call.