I have the same latent feelings as Stephen, but Shriram's argument has convinced me enough to put them away until I see a problem in practice.
Jay 2011/6/3 Stephen Bloch <sbl...@adelphi.edu>: > > On Jun 3, 2011, at 8:34 PM, Shriram Krishnamurthi wrote: > >>> Oh, I'm all in favor of skipping "identifier". But using the word >>> "variable" both for global variables (i.e. constants) and for >>> function parameters strikes me as asking for confusion. >> >> Okay. We have no evidence one way or the other. It could be >> something we try to investigate. Given our observation (for other >> terms) that fine-grained distinctions actually cause more confusion >> than help, I am not at all ready to buy your argument. Moreover, I >> have also come to distrust arguments from pure reason in this area. > > Fair enough. Data are good. > > But it seems to me that the difference (to a novice) between > (a) something that's given a value once and for all where its name is > defined, and > (b) something that's a place-holder that takes on a different value every > time a particular function is called > is anything BUT a "fine distinction". > > > Stephen Bloch > sbl...@adelphi.edu > > > _________________________________________________ > For list-related administrative tasks: > http://lists.racket-lang.org/listinfo/dev > -- Jay McCarthy <j...@cs.byu.edu> Assistant Professor / Brigham Young University http://faculty.cs.byu.edu/~jay "The glory of God is Intelligence" - D&C 93 _________________________________________________ For list-related administrative tasks: http://lists.racket-lang.org/listinfo/dev
