Greetings,

I have been out of town and see that the historical CL Scruffies vs Neats
discussions are still vigorous.

Some observations..

As noted, having terse, readable templates is helpful.  Backquote saves typing
and enhances readability.  Define-syntax adds error checks and avoids most
problems with simple macros--even if not a complete solution where
name-capture is required.

It has been proposed that CASE be removed from the language.  If this had been
done and variant CASE definitions used in libraries, I would argue that this
would cause useless work in going from one Scheme to another.

While there are many, many object systems for Scheme--I have written at least
four myself--there is no portable, standard one.  I will argue that the lack
of windowed & GUI development environments is probably due more to lack of
libraries of inheritable/OO widgets than with lack of a standard FFI.
Contrast this with CLIM (CommonLisp Interface Manager) which is supported by
all commercial CL implementations.

Getting records with subtyping into Scheme is taking decades, while record
implementations have been around for decades.  This indicates lack of
agreement on a process for convergence.  The SRFI process is non-binding and
has at least engendered agreement and some implementation computability.

<RANT>
Two decades ago, one frequently wrote in C and some of the first code written
in going to a new system were routines like block_move, string_compare, and
sometimes printf.  This is not true today.  I do, however, continue to
port/augment FORMAT, which is both silly and disheartening.

There are implementations of Format which allow for additions (Scheme48 comes
to mind, but I know there are others).

The reason for Intermediate format is precisely to maximize agreement while
moving toward better/more complete solutions.  It is obvious from the
discussion so far how difficult it is to gain agreement.

Predictor/correcter baby steps at least leads somewhere.  Can we take this
step or are you all satisfied with SRFI-28?

I'm not.

Format is here.  It exists.  It is not going away.  How about a higher minimal
standard?
</RANT>

[I still don't see how people find <foo> more readable than (foo)   8^]

Cheers,
-KenD