[Gd-hackers] not happy with the table macro

[Bruce Hoult]

I'd like to thank |agent for writing the table() macro:

 http://www.opendylan.org/cvszilla/transaction.cgi?id=11064

It looks quite useful in a lot of code.


Unfortunately I see a number of problems with this which together make
me quite unhappy.

- the checkin comment says it is in common-extensions but it would
appear to be in common-dylan, based on the number of files checked in
that say "use common-dylan, exclude: { table };"

- common-dylan should be quite stable, only one step below the DRM
itself, and modified only on the basis of consensus, after a proposal
and discussion.

- common-dylan should be the same between GD and OD.  The checkin
comment admits that this can not be implemented in OD at present.

- the name choosen is highly likely to conflict with existing Dylan
code, and these days common-dylan is *the* standard import, replacing
the older "use dylan".

  - That conflict is likely is evidenced by six of the nine files
touched by the transaction being modified PURELY to resolve name
conflicts with the new macro, either by renaming existing variables or
by excluding "table" from the imports.
  - there is no way to know how much user-written code will conflict.
My guess is: a lot


I would like to see some or all of the following done:

- the macro renamed to something less likely to conflict, such as make-table.

- the macro removed from common-dylan and put into common-extensions,
or table-extensions, or contributions.

- changes to common-dylan, if they met general approval, should be
implemented simultaneously in Gwydion 2.4 and 2.5 branches, and in
OpenDylan.


I'm really happy that Agent is working on improving Dylan and I'd like
to encourage this.  We sorely need many improvements to the compiler,
libraries and documntation.

I just don't think we should make incompatable changes to the language
itself quite so casually.

Best regards,
Bruce