Re: various comments

[Radey Shouman <Shouman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Per Bothner <per@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> Note an implication of this representation is that you don't want to
> use a general array for a shape.  Instead' you'd want a shape to be a
> simple (but read-only) vector.  So I strongly suggest that the specification
> be changed to make shape be a *one*-dimensional array - or better
> yet make it an unspecified opaque type.  (In that case for Kawa I would
> use a simple Java primitive int array.)  Of course an implementation
> does have the option of using a simple array interally for a shape, and
> having array-shape wrap it in a general array, but that means that
> array-shape would have to do object allocation.

I would like to strongly second the suggestion to make the array shape
an unspecified opaque type.  A two-dimensional array may well be
optimal in the reference implementation, but it will likely be a
burden for more primitively implemented arrays.  Also, I find the idea
that an array shape object should become immutable only after passing
it to one of the array functions as a shape to be a little bit weird.