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Re: continuations and threads

This page is part of the web mail archives of SRFI 18 from before July 7th, 2015. The new archives for SRFI 18 contain all messages, not just those from before July 7th, 2015.



In the past I considered all of your uses of call/cc as legit. I guess Mike
 hit the nail on the head when he said "perhaps your call/cc is just too
 slow." But at the same time, I have to say that I considered exceptions
 and pure threading the true domain of call/cc and since exceptions and
 threads are a part of MzScheme, I guess it takes away the motivation for
 many call/cc's. 

;; --- 

The monograph is based on my dissertation from 1986, and Dan and I worked
out the presentation in "Art of" thru a dialog. 

Yes, the semantics in there (and used elsewhere) shows how global call/cc
is. I tried to tame it with proposals for restricted continuation grabs,
but the proposal never caught on. Appel actually put them into SML/NJ, but 
until Gunter et alii came along and revised it nobody cared. I am not sure 
anybody would care anyway. 

Using prompt and control, many programs were easier to write than with
call/cc and set! and easier to understand, too. Why people didn't pick up
on it can only be explained with premature standardization on Scheme's
side. 

;; --- 

Thanks for the feedback to everyone. 

-- Matthias