From: Charles Oliver Nutter <charles.nutter@...>
Date: 2007-07-18T14:09:09+09:00
Subject: Re: Proposal: runtime-modifying Kernel methods should be keywords

Calamitas wrote:
> I think Charles is really asking for more structure and not for more
> restrictions. Take eval for example. Currently it is a method, but
> that fact by itself does not gain you much. Yes, you can potentially
> do things like alias it, but it's semantics is so different from other
> methods that this is potentially dangerous and mostly useless except
> maybe to move it out of the way because it is a method (and we're back
> where we started from,) and it can create hard to understand code.
> Making it a keyword is a restriction, so that's not ideal. A %e
> construct would be another possibility that offers more structure and
> no "real" restriction.

I can agree with this...I certainly don't seek the restrictive aspects 
of keywords, just the structure. I want a way to specify runtime 
characteristics of a piece of code based on the contents, and ideally 
without having to wait multiple execution cycles and "hope" I get it 
right or pay a severe penalty for getting it wrong.

- Charlie