Another forwarded message from J. A. "Biep" Durieux: > -----Original Message----- > From: J. A. "Biep" Durieux <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: 21 May 2007 > To: '[email protected]' > Subject: WdW and the nature of Scheme (Was: A guideline for designing Scheme)
[Tired and isolated.. :-)] It is good to see my WdW message stirring up some discussion, but unfortunately the reactions seem to address the last line only - and then ignore the word "final" there. The situation as I see it is a bit like the straddle in an Academic hospital. This implies a quadrupartition, or rather a double bipartition: (1) Scheme, the scientific apothecary, consisting of two parts. (1a) The Beds, the medicinal garden where carefully-chosen medicinal plants are grown. (1b) The Pharmacopoeia, describing tonics and cordials with a proven wholesome effect, and how to produce them from the herbs from the Beds. Per ailment there is at most one recipe, and its healing effect is guaranteed. For many ailments a recipe is still lacking, though. The apothecary is run strictly according to WdW modality principles. (2) The Drugstore, likewise consisting of two parts. (2a) The Mudlands, an eerie and forbidding land where trees grow of repulsive shape, whose unwholesome fruits possess dark powers. (2b) The Grymoire, describing potions and concoctions that in general tend to have a positive overall effect. Their ingredients come where possible from the Beds, but the Drugstore owners don't hesitate to harvest in the Mudlands when the Beds don't provide what they need. The Grymoire contains recipes for many diseases that the Pharmacopoeia doesn't treat, at times even several competing ones for the same illness. Once in a while one or the other of two things may happen to The Beds. [a] Scheme accepts some plant X from the Mudlands, either in its wild form, or in the form of a cultivar. In that latter case, a recipe is added to the Grymoire that describes how to obtain the original effect in terms of the cultivar, and X is eradicated from the Mudlands. [b] A new, more fundamental base of plants is found. In that case recipes in terms of the new plants corresponding to any removed ones are added to the Grymoire. Comparable things may happen to the Pharmacopoeia. Now the hospital as a whole is quite useful, but there are more useful hospitals. The apothecary is unique, however, and merging it with the larger hospital would amount to a real loss. So by all means let the hospital grow, but never by blurring the line between the apothecary and the drugstore. R6RS could recognise the four quadrants. Let Scheme remain the language that.. etc. J. A. "Biep" Durieux - [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Please reply here rather than to the address I had this sent from. _______________________________________________ r6rs-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.r6rs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/r6rs-discuss
