Re: JACAL, scm

[Maciej Stachowiak]

On 25Sep2001 03:08AM (-0700), Tom Lord wrote:
> 
>    > 
>    >        > The '()/#f equivalence was dropped a long time ago.
>    > 
>    > It's not too late to fix that.
>    > 
> 
>    I don't understand why it's helpful for the two to be equal, besides
>    Emacs Lisp compatibility, which strikes me as a poor reason. 
> 
> I think it is a good idea for GNU Emacs and the GNU extension language
> to work well together.  They should be able to exchange data comprised
> of basic types using `read' and `write' (on the Scheme side).  There
> is no reliable way for the two programs to exchange simple data unless
> () and #f are the same.

There are many reasons why Guile and Emacs Lisp cannot trivially
exchange data via `read' and `write' besides this one.
 
I am not sure if this issue is worth debating further. This is not an
issue of right or wrong, it is a matter of tradeoffs, like most design
decisions. The tradeoff here is between interoperability with other
Scheme implementations and staying true to the letter and perceived
spirit of Scheme on the one hand; and better interoperability with
Emacs on the other.

The disagreement is over which of these is more important. It sounds
like most people on the list do not agree with you on that point.

 - Maciej