Non-strictness vs. laziness (was RE: Sisal)

[Frank A. Christoph]

Joe Fasel wrote:
> Actually, I think we were originally thinking of laziness, rather
> than nonstrictness, and weren't considering languages like Id as
> part of our domain, but Arvind and Nikhil (quite correctly) convinced
> us that the semantic distinction of strictness versus nonstrictness
> should be our concern, rather than the operational notions of
> eagerness and laziness.

Please elucidate. Where does this difference become important? What impact
did it have on the language?

--FC