[R6RS] Re: modules

[R. Kent Dybvig]

> If EVAL is permitted to evaluate code in a module ...

I have been assuming that a program would be able to construct a module
definition and call eval on it, just as a program can currently construct
an arbitrary r5rs program and evaluate it.  Is everyone else assuming
that this will not be possible?  The (eval `(lambda () (foo ,v))) was
just a simple abstraction of the issue of what happens if a program
constructs and evaluates a module and the constructed module contains a
pointer to a large data structure, nested within a syntax-rules template.

> As Will said, scanning for implicit exports is entirely optional.
> It is correct, if conservative, to assume that all top-level
> identifiers are exported.

Of course I know that a compiler can fall back to "all module bindings
are exported".  In fact, this is where it *must* fall back to if it
fails to completely scan of any part of any syntax-rules template.
My point was that avoiding this fate is difficult, i.e., complex and/or
potentially expensive.  This is most likely to be a big problem only for
large and complex modules, but those are the ones most in need of static
analysis for all the reasons humans and computers do static analysis.

Kent