[r6rs-discuss] [Formal] Formal semantics should not contain complicating optimizations

From: Jason Orendorff <jason.orendorff>
Date: Fri Mar 16 02:39:15 2007

Thomas Lord wrote:
> You miss my point. We have overwhelming empirical evidence
> that in some situations it is useful for string-ref to be O(1) and
> in other situations for it to be O(n). If an implementation is
> to be Scheme, is its choice between those to be mandated by the
> report?

If there are two use cases, there should be two APIs. That way,
people know what to expect when they use each one. They can write
portable programs. They can even handle when both kinds of situations
arise in the same program.

...Or was this a metaphor for something else? I guess I'm missing
your point too.

-j
Received on Fri Mar 16 2007 - 02:39:11 UTC