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Re: Initial comments

This page is part of the web mail archives of SRFI 99 from before July 7th, 2015. The new archives for SRFI 99 contain all messages, not just those from before July 7th, 2015.



I do indeed intend for SRFI 99 to be useful in module-less
R5RS systems.

And there I was thinking that lcd was just a standard procedure, rather than a guiding principle. :-)

Indeed, the record system of SRFI 99 has already proved
its worth in Larceny, where records and record type
descriptors are first class objects that are routinely
passed between R5RS, ERR5RS, and R6RS code without the
inconvenience of marshalling, renaming, or coercions.
That objective convenience should not be sacrificed for
subjective aesthetics.

I agree that avoiding marshalling in this case is very convenient, but I don't see what that has to do with the names of the procedures. Perhaps I am being dense.

While you may disagree with my desire for common names between SRFI-99 and the R6RS, it is a mischaracterization to say that my request stems from subjective aesthetic concerns rather than (subjective) concerns about clarity. However, if you want this SRFI to work with module- less R5RS systems, then I can see why you might want to insist on new names for your procedures.

Thinking more about my concerns, I am worried that this SRFI is justified because there is a discord between the procedural and syntactic records systems defined by the R6RS. However, instead of simply defining a new syntactic record that is compatible with the R6RS procedural system, you have rewritten both from scratch. What is the justification for that?

In other words, putting on my lazy hat, I can understand why I should learn a new syntactic system (because I want one that works with the procedural system), but why on earth should I learn a new procedural system?

I think you either need to explicitly justify the new procedural system or use the R6RS procedural system for your new syntactic system.

Regards,

Alan
--
Alan Watson
http://www.alan-watson.org/