Re: A better name for 'set, a need for a reflection API for SRFI 198??
Lassi Kortela 16 Aug 2020 06:31 UTC
> I also don't like set, but consider it a placeholder for now, we should
> be able to come up with a better name.
>
> But before going to that effort, we have to agree on the need for it.
> If it's not mandatory, it's a */very/* different thing, and while
> "convention" is a synonym for me in context, "protocol" isn't particularly.
IMHO the purpose of 'set is to give meaning to 'code/number and
'name/symbol. 'code/number and 'name/symbol make sense without 'set, in
the same way that a grammatically correct but taken-out-of-context
sentence makes sense in English. It refers to something definite but
since you lack the context, you don't know what specifically.
In that sense 'set is not technically mandatory yet is obviously useful.
What are we really trying to get to the bottom of -- is this about the
error codes that are non-specific negative integers, where we mainly
know that negative means error and the precise meaning of a particular
number may be unknown?
>> We're gonna need a reflection API at some point (i.e. enumerating sets
>
> What are going to be the consumers of this reflection API?
Mostly Scheme programmers using a REPL or IDE. That implies enumeration
doesn't need to be fast. Python's errno module is prior art:
<https://docs.python.org/3/library/errno.html>.