compilation speeds

There was a discussion about tail recursion earlier this year: see

    http://www.math.utexas.edu/pipermail/maxima/2006/012334.html

A tail-recursive Maxima function doesn't always (ever?) translate into a 
tail-recursive CL function. If you want something like

   (defun $sumlist (l x) (if (like l `((mlist))) x ($sumlist ($rest l) 
(add x ($first l)))))

you can't get it by translating

   sumlist(l,x) := if l = [] then x else sumlist(rest(l),x + first(l));

Barton