Re: [Scheme-reports] Formal Comment: Change syntax of symbols from |<symbol element>*| to #"<string element>*"

[Alan Watson <alan@x>]

> Making the two the same seems like a no-brainer to me.

I am reliably informed that the people suggesting this change do indeed have brains. :-)

> A parameterised contexts means that users have to learn two contexts which are different only for historical reasons.

Once you adopt | as the delimiter for symbols, the contexts are different. They could have been made the same by adopting #"..." for symbols, but that idea was rejected, yes, largely because of historical precedent.

If one thinks of the allowed escapes to include \ followed by the delimiter, then the contexts differ only in the value of the delimiter. Even if one adopts \" and \| in both contexts, the contexts still differ by the value of the delimiter, so there is little additional complexity here.

> The BNF is simpler this way though

Yeah, the BNF will be shorter and since the quality of a Scheme standard is widely measured by the brevity of the report, I can understand the committee's actions. :-)

So, whatever. Da lo mismo.

Regards,

Alan


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