[R6RS] my notes on today's conference call (8 August 2006)

Tue Aug 8 14:26:45 EDT 2006

Conference call August 8 2006 12:45-2:15pm
All present by about 12:46pm:
Kent, Mike, Matthew, Anton, Will

0. finalize agenda (1 minute)
    naming of condition predicates and accessors (if time; could wait)

1. action items from 8/1/2006 (5 minutes)
   - email Richard, marc, Manuel re: editorial credit (Kent)
        done, but no reply yet
   - propose alternate script syntax (Anton)
        done
   - revise library and syntax srfis (Kent)
        done
   - draft safety (memory integrity) paragraphs (Will)
        done
   - carried over:
     - complete unicode reference implementation (Will)
        done
   - note: reserve last week of August for proofreading

2. Report status (5 minutes)
   - items ready for review
     <item>                    <editor>   <to be completed by>   <done?>
     unicode                   Matthew    Aug. 03                done.
     exceptions & conditions   Matthew    Aug. 03                ongoing
     quasiquote                Kent       Aug. 08                done.
     letrec*                   Kent       Aug. 08                done.
     let-values & let*-values  Kent       Aug. 08                done.
     records                   Kent       Aug. 08
     enumerations              Will       Jul. 12                done.
     bytes                     Will       Aug. 03                8 August
     equal?                    Will       Aug. 01                done.
     list-library              Anton      Aug. 07                
     case-lambda               Anton      Aug. 07                11 August
     when & unless             Anton      Aug. 07                done.
     core/library split        Anton      Aug. 07                11 August
     arithmetic                Will       Aug. 22
     set-car!, set-cdr!        Anton      Aug. ??
     condition-type details    Anton      Aug. ??
     dynamic-wind              Kent       Aug. 15
   - items not ready for review
     syntax (read-syntax, syntactic forms)
     eval
     I/O
     hash tables
     safe/unsafe mode
     syntax-case
     library system
     scripts
     r5rs compatibility library
     operational semantics
     core language

3. future meetings (5 minutes)
   - Matthew is off to China next week (12 hours different from EDT)
        out of commission one week from today
        8am EDT might work (8pm in China, 3pm in Germany)
        Thursday next week, 8am EDT
   - Portland, OR in September (Scheme workshop / ICFP)
        Sunday evening at dinner,
            after talks end (5:30pm) and before R6RS session (8pm)
        maybe Monday evening as well

4. relaxation of script syntax (10 minutes)
   - treat script body as a library body?
     <script header>
     (import <import-spec>*)
     <library body>
     - requires (command-line) procedure
   - allow interleaved definitions and expressions?
    Anton volunteered to prepare written list of issues and options

5. syntax-case (15 minutes)
   - make fresh-syntax the default?
     - pros: reduces possibility of unintended intra-transformer capture
     - cons: complicates many common macros
             problematic interaction with quasisyntax
        adding fresh-syntax as a separate form:
            in: Will, Anton
            out: Kent, Mike, Matthew
   - add abstract transformer syntax?
       (transformer (<variable>) <body>) => transformer
        Will suggested "syntax-lambda" instead of "transformer"
        Mike suggested it be restricted to appear close to
            define-syntax (or whatever)
        adopted 4-0-1
   - add quasisyntax/unsyntax/unsyntax-splicing?
     - can be written as a macro
        can also be written incorrectly
        might improve acceptance of syntax-case
        adopted by acclamation
   - should let-syntax/letrec-syntax treated like begin or let?
        yes: Will, Kent, Matthew, Mike, Anton
        no: 
   - otherwise accept basically as is?
        accepted without objection

6. I/O convenience library (10 minutes)
   - naming of peek-char, write-char, etc.
        vote by email
        Will will propose a change to library semantics

7. I/O (15 minutes)
    extensibility
        file names
        file options
        transcoders
    mutation of port transcoders, transcoders, whatever

8. adjourned about 2:24pm