Re: Couple things... felix 24 Dec 2003 11:46 UTC

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 11:12:04 +0100, Michael Sperber
<xxxxxx@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de> wrote:

>>>>>> "Thomas" == Thomas Bushnell <xxxxxx@becket.net> writes:
>
> Thomas> Um, in C a user definitely has cause to care.  Importantly, a
> function
> Thomas> can be used far more flexibly.  Allowing all the forms to be
> macros is
> Thomas> a pain.
>
> Felix will point out that allowing forms to be functions is a
> performance consideration.
>

Not only that. It allows the *implementor* maximal flexibility, which
I consider more important in this case. Allowing a form to be a function
may tempt users to do weird stuff like taking it's address, etc.
Remember: on this level (FFI) things can get extremely fragile and tricky.
The user of an FFI should be *forced* to use it's forms in a
straightforward
and simply manner.

cheers,
felix