[plt-scheme] Apparent inconsistencies between original spirit of RnRS and R6RS [Fw: Ann: Sketchy LISP, Third Edition]

2008/8/7 Benjamin L. Russell <DekuDekuplex at yahoo.com>:
> One of the main reasons that I preferred Scheme over Common Lisp
> was the succinctness of Scheme, caused precisely by the lack of
> libraries.  One of the main reasons that I stopped studying Java was
> precisely the huge growth in libraries...
>
> I have an ominous feeling of dark clouds approaching....  I just hope
> that Scheme doesn't become the kind of monstrosity that Java and
> Common Lisp have become, requiring constant flipping through huge
> library reference manuals just to use. ...

I don't understand this argument.  Either your program benefits from
libraries or it doesn't.  If it does why wouldn't you use them, and if
it doesn't why wouldn't you just ignore the libraries?  For example,
if you were writing an image processing program in Java you'd be
bonkers to not at least look at the Java image API.  You might then
decide it doesn't fit your needs or is too hard to use, but I don't
see how this can become a criticism of the language.

N.