[r6rs-discuss] Scheme should not be changed to be case sensitive

From: Arthur A. Gleckler <arthur>
Date: Thu Nov 16 23:30:01 2006

On Nov 16, 2006, at 2:58 PM, Shiro Kawai wrote:

> Suppose there will be a compatibility means so that you can use
> existing code without a problem. Now you have an option to
> redesign this feature of the language. According to the spirit
> of Scheme ("Language should be designed ..."), which one is simpler
> and cleaner, the one that has case-folding rule, and another that
> has not? Think about teaching it to students, or training new
> employees who have been programming in other popular languages.

Simplicity and ease of communication and explication are two of the
reasons I want Scheme to remain case insensitive. Not having to say
"Boolean -- no, that's capital Boolean -- no, just the 'b' is
capitalized" would be great. Not having to deal with errors
introduced by the kind of crazy capitalization I suffer with in Java
day in and day out would be wonderful. I don't want to lose those
benefits in Scheme, especially after having them all these years.

> If I understand the current draft correctly, your R5RS libraries
> can't be R6RS compatible as they are---you at least need to enclose
> the entire body with (library ...) form. So R6RS itself does not
> provide a gradual upgrade path anyway.

The library forms are up for debate, too. The enclosure of LIBRARY
forms is one of the things I least like about the current library
proposal -- that effectively, most files will be just one giant
LIBRARY form. This is one more thing that's not just neutral to
interactivity, but detrimental to it.
Received on Thu Nov 16 2006 - 23:29:51 UTC