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Re: Are we done? Are other changes needed to maximize adoption?

This page is part of the web mail archives of SRFI 105 from before July 7th, 2015. The new archives for SRFI 105 contain all messages, not just those from before July 7th, 2015.



I said:
> > All things have a learning curve.  But:
> >   {a + {b * c} + cos(x)}
> > should be easy-to-read by *everyone*, including both the unwashed through and the old hands.

Per Bothner:
> My concern: It's not easy-to-write by the unwashed.

A worthy concern, but I don't think it's a problem.  Indeed, it's pretty easy.  The basic rules are:
1. Use {...} every time you want to use infix order inside, with space-delimited operators
2. You can use f(...) anywhere in {...} (recursively).

It's worth optimizing reading anyway.  When you modify existing code, you need to read a lot of lines before you decide where and what to write.

> Perhaps it might be useful to have two modes in a REPL...

That's a possibility, but I don't think we should do that.  You now need mode-switching commands, and have to remember which mode you're in, and code then works differently depending on the mode.  Ugh.  I think it'd be better to have a simple rule that "works everywhere".

--- David A. Wheeler