Thomas Bushnell BSG <xxxxxx@becket.net> writes:

>> The programmer is a user of IEEE exposed by Scheme, and expects
>> that the Scheme implementation will provide an IEEE-conformant
>> environment. If it doesn't, it's less useful.
>
> The user expects that?  Really?  All of them?

No, only those who care about the precise semantics of inexact reals.

> How about the user expects that, if he has requested an
> IEEE-conformant environment, he will get it?

Managing multiple sets of meanings of the same constructs is
problematic conceptually and makes cooperation between libraries
harder. Would it apply lexically or dynamically? Could I have multiple
interpretations in the same program? If yes, how would passing values
between the two interpretations work, i.e. are they constrained to the
same representation, or must data be somehow converted between them?
If not, how can I combine two libraries which assume different
interpretations?

--
   __("<         Marcin Kowalczyk
   \__/       xxxxxx@knm.org.pl
    ^^     http://qrnik.knm.org.pl/~qrczak/