;;;; a PCOUNTER is used to represent an unsigned integer quantity which
;;;; can grow bigger than a fixnum, but typically does so, if at all,
;;;; in many small steps, where we don't want to cons on every step.
-;;;; Such quantities typically arise in profiling, e.g.
+;;;; Such quantities typically arise in profiling, e.g.
;;;; total system consing, time spent in a profiled function, and
;;;; bytes consed in a profiled function are all examples of such
;;;; quantities. The name is an abbreviation for "Profiling COUNTER".