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On 03/12/2013 07:51 PM, David A. Wheeler wrote:
I think this is the important part of the motivation. The first time I read the SRFI, it seemed like sweet-expressions should already be able to handle this situation. In addition, having experience with Python, it didn't seem like a problem. Only after seeing the 3 awkward ways to do it without <* *>, and how Python treats files and repls differently, did I begin to see how they were useful. I'll put this into a draft edit of that section of the SRFI.Yes, that's right. Without collecting lists, those are the only options... and that's the motivation. We could change the notation, but the changes look ugly. The obvious alternatives for the notation are: 1. Make the REPL and file syntax different, like Python. I think this would be a mistake; people often copy-and-paste from files to the REPL. 2. Don't stop on blank lines, but that change would make interactive use much less pleasant. It's really not a problem when the whole sequence fits on a screen. But when things get long, it starts to get ugly.
Thanks, Dave