Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!unido!laura!heike.informatik.uni-dortmund.de!muenx
From: muenx@heike.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Holger Muenx)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme
Subject: string->symbol ?!
Message-ID: <2066@laura.UUCP>
Date: 23 Mar 90 15:46:55 GMT
Sender: news@laura.UUCP
Reply-To: muenx@heike.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Holger Muenx)
Organization: Universitaet Dortmund
Lines: 24


Hi!

Thanks to all who answered to my posting according to a minor problem with
string->symbol when using upper/lower case letters in MIT-Scheme.

Ok, most of them said it's in the R3RS so this behaviour is correct. It's
really in R3RS -- I read it.

Here is my (naive) opinion to this point. May it be written in R3RS or not
-- I think it's disturbing. When do you want to have symbols which cannot
be typed from keyboard? Isn't it enough to use strings in these cases?

Someone said it's a relict from old Lisp times. There existed no strings so
they needed symbols which can consist of non-typable chars.

                                                   -Holger

=============================================================================

     Holger Muenx                 muenx@heike.informatik.uni-dortmund.de
     IRB, UniDo
     4600 Dortmund                  "My opinions are shareware. Send $10
     West-Germany                    if you like them."