Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!ccu.umanitoba.ca!herald.usask.ca!alberta!ubc-cs!manis From: manis@cs.ubc.ca (Vincent Manis) Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme Subject: Re: Order of evaluation (was Re: evaluating () should be an error Message-ID: <1991Apr5.210405.19959@cs.ubc.ca> Date: 5 Apr 91 21:04:05 GMT References: <1991Apr5.081428.24587@cs.ubc.ca> <22253@yunexus.YorkU.CA> Sender: usenet@cs.ubc.ca (Usenet News) Organization: Institute for Pure and Applied Eschatology Lines: 33 In article <22253@yunexus.YorkU.CA> oz@yunexus.yorku.ca (Ozan Yigit) writes, in response to me: >>... I think the onus is on those who >>would change this practice to demonstrate compelling reasons for doing >>so. > >This is not a debating society, nor Scheme is trivial pursuit. The onus >is on all of us to bring forth conjectures on issues that clearly divide >the community, and see if they withstand critical examination. Huh? Some people propose a fairly radical change to Scheme, moving its behaviour away from the norm in modern programming languages. They do so on the fairly vague basis that `it would be more consistent' or `it's more natural' or some such thing. The change would legitimize a programming style which is known to be problematic, and has been known since the mid-1960's, at the very least. If it has any effect on program performance, it is likely to be a negative one. I would say that indeed the proponents of any change ought to be responsible for putting together firm reasons why that change is necessary. I see no reason why I should make their case for them. If their response is `if you don't make that change, I won't use Scheme!' I will certainly respect them for it, but it doesn't help me see the force of their argument. I certainly remain open to cogent arguments on this subject. I'd just like to see their reasons. However, the arguments presented so far simply have not been compelling. -- \ Vincent Manis "There is no law that vulgarity and \ Department of Computer Science literary excellence cannot coexist." /\ University of British Columbia -- A. Trevor Hodge / \ Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1W5 (604) 228-2394