Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!usc!ucsd!ogicse!emory!cambridge.apple.com!alms
From: alms@cambridge.apple.com (Andrew L. M. Shalit)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme
Subject: why is quasiquote necessary?
Message-ID: <ALMS.90May30153205@brazil.cambridge.apple.com>
Date: 30 May 90 19:32:05 GMT
Sender: news@cambridge.apple.com
Distribution: comp.lang.scheme
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 14


It occurred to me today that Scheme doesn't really need a quasiquote
special form.  Instead, quote could have just been extended to handle
unquote and unquote-splicing.

I can only think of two reasons for having both quote and quasiquote:

 1) historical accident, because of the way the quasiquote special
    form was derived from a reader macro.
 2) program readability.  Some would argue that a large quoted piece of
    program text with a little bitty comma in the middle might be prone
    to misinterpretation (by humans).

   -andrew