On Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:26:18 -0400, Brian Harvey <[email protected]>
wrote:
>> The REPL is first and foremost a programming
>> convenience for interactive development. It is not meant to be an end
>> user
>> interface, and it is not meant to be some "primary means" of deploying
>> software programs, at least not in most cases. Usually, software is
>> deployed in files, and not typed in manually or loaded through the REPL.
>
> I categorically reject this view. You are thinking of C, or C++, or
> Java.
>
> What makes Lisp Lisp is two non-negotiable things: lambda, and the repl.
> Compilers are negotiable. Efficiency is negotiable. The REPL is not.
The REPL is a tool, no more. It is a very useful tool, but nothing about
the REPL actually makes Scheme Scheme. Scheme enables the creation and use
of these nice tools, such as REPLs, but it's the nature of the language,
as others have pointed out, that is important. We must not confuse tools
and lot's of extra convenient implementation features with the *language*.
Aaron W. Hsu
--
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its
victims may be the most oppressive. -- C. S. Lewis
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