[plt-scheme] Re: [plt-edu] Re: conventional syntax

On May 25, 2006, at 2:18 PM, Stephen Bloch wrote:

> MAYBE conditionals, using the syntax "if condition then expression 
> else expression"

I object. I saw conditionals in my high school but they looked like 
this:
              -1 if x < 0
   sign(x) = { 0 if x = 0
              +1 if x > 0

(which is why I chose cond as the only conditional for the beginner 
language).

Also, how do you justify boolean w/o conditional?

> There should definitely be a Stepper, which counts "making implicit 
> multiplication explicit" as a step.

I object again. The insertion of multiplication is purely notational.

> To the teachers reading this: would that be useful?
> To the PLT geeks reading this: how long would it take to design and 
> implement?

Look at the honu collection in the svn distribution. I bet it'll be a 
matter of two days for you to do this (1 day for the brace).

-- Matthias