Hi! Andy Wingo <wi...@pobox.com> skribis:
> What is a vector? > > Possible answers: > > 1. A vector is something that answers #t to vector?, which contains > some number of storage slots accessible in a mostly-O(1) way, the > number of slots is given by vector-length, and the slots can be > accessed with vector-ref and vector-set!. > > 2. A vector is a specific kind of object, implementing the interface > described above, and disjoint from all other kinds of objects. > > 3. A vector is a specific kind of object, as before, disjoint from all > other kinds of objects defined in the R5RS. > > 4. A vector is a specific kind of object, as before, disjoint from all > other kinds of objects defined in the R6RS. > > (1) defines vectors as an interface. > > (2) defines vectors as a specific data structure. > > (3) admits to a number of distinct types that may be vectors, of which > one kind is defined by the R5RS. > > (4) is like (3), but it precludes bytevectors from being vectors. I would vote for (2). Vectors are a specific data structure that has always (?) been defined in the Scheme reports, so it ought to remain disjoint IMO. Guile’s arrays are closer to (1), but with a multi-dimensional interface. Ludo’.
