Re: (problem? 'guile)

[Eli Barzilay <eli@barzilay.org>]

On Dec 21, MJ Ray wrote:
> ...but not with that.  What prevents Joe Random User from this
> mailing list playing a Tinpot General, except a stiff rebuke from
> PLT?

Exactly that -- there is some centralized authority, which people
trust because it has proved itself where it matters, as far as
language design is concerned.  Whoever is in charge of Guile didn't,
so you would be less surprised when JRU gets a status of a mega-guru
language designer there after being thrown out from here.

I think that there is an important point here -- choosing a language
is important, and people have strong opinions (up to an extreme with
any paren-rich language).  This is why it is very important for me to
choose a language design by people I trust -- so even if they make
decisions that I don't agree with, I know there are good chances that
I will see the light after a while.  Some people choose to go after a
bunch of PLT paren-freaks, others choose very respectable people like
Larry Wall, and others stick to a 1000-page standard as if god wrote
it.  In any case, you should respect your authority or you're bound to
keep wondering around, possibly ending up writing your own
implementation.  I think that what Shriram is saying is that the Open
Source thing (for some definition of Open Source) is bad for language
design since you cannot respect just anyone who feels like it, unlike
writing libraries and such which you don't have to respect as much as
the language.,

-- 
          ((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x)))          Eli Barzilay:
                  http://www.barzilay.org/                 Maze is Life!