[REBOL] Re: percent! - new datatype request
From: joel:neely:fedex at: 10-Jun-2002 7:03
Hi, Gregg,
Gregg Irwin wrote:
> We could go on with every single SI unit in existance?
>
> Not a stupid idea at all. This is where I see dialects playing an
> important role, and comes back to what I said in my reply to Andrew,
> that this is where I've thought percentages would fit best.
>
I agree completely. Such things belong in a dialect, not in the
core language.
Looking back at the history of programming languages, there's an
issue of balance between
a simple language a bloated language
which is small and which is complex and
easy to learn, but and impossible to learn
too small for real because of unbridled
programming tasks feature creep
(and so never used) (and so never used)
There's a "sweet spot" in the middle, and I respectfully suggest
that REBOL/Core should seek to find (and STAY IN) that zone. The
whole idea of an extensible language is to provide the most common
and useful set of features, along with a simple means for the
programmer to add those concepts that are required for the special
circumstances of a particular task/project.
That said...
Instead of asking for specific twiddles, I'd be interested in the
response of RT to the ideas of either:
- providing a means for extending the syntax within dialects so
that new forms could be added at the mezzanine level, or
- providing a means for switching on/off classes of extensions
(perhaps coded natively) to avoid bloat and namespace collisions
for those cases where the extensions are not needed.
Thoughts, anyone?
-jn-
--
; Joel Neely joeldotneelyatfedexdotcom
REBOL [] do [ do func [s] [ foreach [a b] s [prin b] ] sort/skip
do function [s] [t] [ t: "" foreach [a b] s [repend t [b a]] t ] {
| e s m!zauafBpcvekexEohthjJakwLrngohOqrlryRnsctdtiub} 2 ]
