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> From: tb@xxxxxxxxxx (Thomas Bushnell, BSG)
>> The biggest issue in choosing between the two approaches, as
>> far as I know, is the question of efficiency.
> This is the part that gives me great pause. I am made uncomfortable
> by an FFI that determines, once for all, that a particular approach is
> more efficient. Even if certainly true for the computers and tools
> available now, experience is that such judgments change over time.
> I'm getting a little Scheme reflex in my brain here: "don't
> standardize until we *know* what the Right Thing is."
At least two efficiency issues, the variable lifetime question and the
extra space needed for mn_ref * values, are properties of C semantics
and the proposed interfaces, not of particular hardware.
I'm generally sympathetic to that reflex but overall, there's not a
huge lot of choice in FFI design. I don't think a SRFI would be
premature.
-t