Re:X12
by bitwize on Wednesday March 01, 2023 @04:17PM
(#34988482)
One of my problems with R6RS was it was a profound shift in philosophy. The consensus criterion was changed from unanimous to simple majority, for instance, and there was much more emphasis on building a practical software engineering language rather than a language core intended to be built upon.
But it kind of failed at that because its standard library had only a small fraction of the features that "practical languages" like Python or Java had! ("> 1 line to send an email -- NON-STARTER!") So it was kind of a fuck you to the existing Scheme user base, in favor of new users that had yet to materialize, and yet it didn't deliver what those new users wanted! (R7RS Small was kind of a return to form for Scheme. I really appreciate the Small vs. Large profiles, akin to C's freestanding vs. hosted implementation profiles.)
And Wayland is kinda the same, but literally everyone with the know-how to work on X11 backs Wayland instead... so unlike the R6RS situation it's kind of a fait accompli. Enough Scheme implementers were assmad about R6RS that there had to be a compromise.
But it kind of failed at that because its standard library had only a small fraction of the features that "practical languages" like Python or Java had! ("> 1 line to send an email -- NON-STARTER!") So it was kind of a fuck you to the existing Scheme user base, in favor of new users that had yet to materialize, and yet it didn't deliver what those new users wanted! (R7RS Small was kind of a return to form for Scheme. I really appreciate the Small vs. Large profiles, akin to C's freestanding vs. hosted implementation profiles.)
And Wayland is kinda the same, but literally everyone with the know-how to work on X11 backs Wayland instead... so unlike the R6RS situation it's kind of a fait accompli. Enough Scheme implementers were assmad about R6RS that there had to be a compromise.