[gambit-list] man _gambit func_

Ramil Farkhshatov ramil at gmx.co.uk
Tue Feb 10 11:38:19 EST 2009


On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 10:44:20AM -0500, Marc Feeley wrote:
> 
> On 10-Feb-09, at 9:55 AM, vasil wrote:
> 
> > Partially agree, but how many users will use this functionality  
> > directly
> > from the repl? I think only some of very-beginners. I suppose that  
> > most
> > of users use some kind of IDEs such as emacs and so on.
> > So, I see several most useful ways to bring help documentation to  
> > user:
> > 1. generation of default .gambcini during installation with default  
> > set
> > of libraries to load  various extensions. This way is for beginners  
> > and
> > their convenience. And extension libraries may be as big and as  
> > featured
> > as needed, without worrying about size of repl and other parts of  
> > gambit
> > at all.
> > 2. extensions to emacs with ability to use on-line help, like use CLHS
> > (Common Lisp HyperSpec) with SLIME. This way is for other users.
> 
> OK, now I see that what you want is extensionality.  Don't worry there  
> will be a hook that can be redefined to redirect the documentation  
> request to what the user wishes.
> 
> Marc

Hello there.
It's not about extendability but about system design in terms of
orthogonality, simplicity and may be sanity.
Displaying documentation in browser is NOT scheme implementation work at all. It's
IDE's work. Autocompletion, history, syntax highlighting is NOT repl work. It's
responsibility of IDE. 
There should be strong differentiation of core and library features in order
to keep system clean.

Thus I suggest to move those «convenient development» features to IDE.

Concerning beginner friendliness: I think a special configured package should
be made. Something that includes gambit, libraries, editor with embedded
documentation. I with colleagues can try to make such package.

-- 
Ramil Farkhshatov




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