[r6rs-discuss] [Formal] Condition hierarchy

From: AndrevanTonder <andre>
Date: Mon Nov 13 21:32:37 2006

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This message is a formal comment which was submitted to formal-comment_at_r6rs.org, following the requirements described at: http://www.r6rs.org/process.html
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Name        : Andre van Tonder
Email       : andre at het.brown.edu
Type        : defects
Priority    : minor
Component   : Conditions
Version     : 5.91
Pages       : 76-78
Dependencies: None
Summary:
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Minor defects in and comments on condition hierarchy.
Description:
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* For &warning conditions, I would suggest that if it were true that
   "this type describes conditions that can safely be ignored", then
   no warning would be necessary in the first place.
* I do not understand why &defect is necessary in addition to &violation.
   I expect that the distinction will confuse users.
* There seems to be no good reason why syntax-violation is not a defect but
   the other ...-violations, for example &undefined, are defects.
* If there was a mistake and &syntax is indeed also a &defect, then all
   the violations would be defects, and there would be no reason within
   the existing hierarchy to have a &defect subtype separate from
   &violation.
* If, on the other hand, it is indeed considered important to distinguish
   defects from just violations, I would suggest that the distinction be
   reflected in the naming convention.  For example,
      - raise-contract-defect
      - undefined-defect?
   to distinguish from the mere violations:
      - raise-syntax-violation
   If, on the other hand, the distinction is not important enough to
   reflect in the naming convention, I would suggest that it is not important
   enough to have &defect in the first place as a separate subtype.
* Under &syntax, the document states
   "This type describes syntax violations at the level of the library
   syntax."  This seems to suggest that &syntax violations are not meant for
   scripts.  It could also be taken to imply that &syntax violations are only
   used for malformed "library" forms, and not, e.g., for malformed
   "lambda" forms.
Suggestion:
-----------
- Consider fixing minor description defects raised above.
- COnsider dropping &defect as a simplification.  The hierarchy is
   already quite complicated.
Received on Mon Nov 13 2006 - 19:41:59 UTC

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