What's on the cursor

[Wikwocket]

I noticed that there appears to be API functions to tell if there is a spell or item on the cursor currently, and functions to drop the current cursor item. But there does not appear to be a function to tell which item or spell is on the cursor. In AddOns I see authors hooking the item pickup functions so they can tell what will be on the cursor, instead of just asking the cursor later.

Does anyone know if there is a reason for this? It seems like it would be a useful function to have, and would eliminate the need for some hooks.