ANN: R7RS Large Macrological Fascicle, plus new Scheme-Reports mailing list (re-subscription needed)

[Daphne Preston-Kendal]

The Working Group for R7RS Large is pleased to announce the immediate
availability of the first draft specification for the R7RS Large
Foundations, the Macrological Fascicle.
<https://r7rs.org/large/fascicles/macro/1/>

Please also take note of another important announcement:

The mailing list Scheme-Reports, where public discussion of R7RS
has taken place so far (scheme-...@scheme-reports.org), has
been re-established. The old subscriber list was lost when the
previous mailing list went down.

Even if you were previously subscribed to the mailing list, you
will need to re-subscribe in order to take part in
Scheme-Reports discussions! You can do this on the web here:
<https://scheme-reports.simplelists.com/>

This part of the specification describes the macro system of R7RS
Large, which is a refinement of that of the R6RS. New features include
syntax parameters (a means of defining seemingly unhygienic macros)
and identifier properties (a way to add additional semantics to any
bound identifier). Criticisms of the R6RS have been addressed by
providing a procedural interface to syntax object destructuring
besides the syntactic syntax-case form, and by reformulating the
non-normative part of the hygiene model. In addition, new macro
features from R7RS small have been incorporated.

The working group welcomes public comments either on the (newly
re-established) Scheme-Reports mailing list or in our issue tracker on
Codeberg. Comments may address any aspect of the fascicle. All public
comments are subject to the Code of Conduct established for the
working group.
<https://codeberg.org/scheme/r7rs/src/branch/main/CODEOFCONDUCT.txt>

It is planned that six additional fascicles of comparable scope will
follow over the next two years to define the core semantics of the
R7RS Large language. The next fascicle will cover the familiar
procedural programming forms such as lambda and the let family of
syntactic forms. In addition, we intend to poll implementers and users
of Scheme for their views on approaches to changes and additions to be
made in R7RS Large.

We look forward to hearing your views on this part of the
specification.

On behalf of the Working Group,

Daphne Preston-Kendal
Chair of Working Group 2

--
dpk (Daphne Preston-Kendal) ·· 12103 Berlin, Germany ·· http://dpk.io/
‘I intend this but for a Scheme of a larger Design.’
— John Woodward, Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth