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Message from discussion Final SRFI 49: Indentation-sensitive syntax
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Anton van Straaten  
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 More options Jul 30 2005, 4:51 pm
Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme
From: Anton van Straaten <an...@appsolutions.com>
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2005 20:51:18 GMT
Local: Sat, Jul 30 2005 4:51 pm
Subject: Re: Final SRFI 49: Indentation-sensitive syntax

alex.g...@gmail.com wrote:
> Anton van Straaten wrote:

>>bunny...@yoho-gmail.com wrote:

>>>Anton van Straaten schrieb:

>>>>The fact that no regular Scheme user has said anything in support of
>>>>SRFI-49, or writes code using its syntax.

>>>           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>>>You couldn't possibly know all regular Scheme users.

>>True.

> Then why do you claim no regular Scheme user writes code using SRFI-49?

My analysis indicates that SRFI-49 is effectively unusable, by which I
mean not usable in practice, even if it is usable in theory.  I don't
need to know any Scheme users to know that none of them are using
something that's effectively unusable.

Others have performed their own analyses and reached similar
conclusions.  It's notable that no-one has yet come forward in defense
of the usability of SRFI-49.

Like any good scientific theory, mine has testable consequences: it
could be falsified merely by the discovery of the existence of a single
Scheme programmer who writes code using SRFI-49.  So far, the theory has
not been falsified.

Further, there's reason to believe that falsifying cases would come to
our attention quite easily: because of the flaws in SRFI-49, the chances
are high that a SRFI-49 user who plans to continue using it would seek
to discuss its problems with others, or perhaps contribute solutions to
those problems.  However, there is no evidence of such activity.

Of course, it's always possible that someone could choose to fix SRFI-49
somehow and use the fixed version without telling anyone else.  However,
that person would no longer be using SRFI-49 (particularly because the
necessary fixes would not be minor), so this would have no effect on my
argument.

In short, I believe that logic and evidence make it entirely safe to say
that no Scheme users are writing code using SRFI-49.  It's possible that
this statement might be proven false at some time in the future, in the
same sort of way that the statement "the sun will rise tomorrow morning"
might be proven false by the appearance of a sufficiently large black
hole which, travelling at a relative velocity close to the speed of
light, could gobble the sun and be out of the solar system in a mere
twelve hours or so, leaving us to face a morning as dark as the life of
a Schemer forced to program in SRFI-49 syntax.

Anton


 
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