[racket-dev] using Racket to build an image-based Lisp: feasible?

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Dear Mikel,

On 06-03-13 04:05, mikel evins wrote:
> 
> On Mar 5, 2013, at 12:56 PM, Eli Barzilay <eli at barzilay.org>
> wrote:
>> But looking at it more deeply I certainly lose something -- I
>> lose the ability to use source code for development,
> 
> Come again? How does that happen? It has certainly never happened
> to me.
> 
>> which could be a real problem for me if I'm working on some code 
>> with someone remote and all we have to communicate are binary 
>> images.
> 
> Well, sure, if I were suddenly somehow denied access to sources
> and made to communicate with colleagues only through binary images,
> that would be a bad thing, but I'm not losing any sleep over the 
> possibility. Matter of fact, it never occurred to me before this 
> moment that it could ever be a possibility.

So how exactly does source code enter into this way of working where
you type code at the REPL and save and load images? Is there a
function that translates images to source code? Otherwise, how do you
prevent losing your code? From source it is easy to get to an image,
right? So what advantage is there to using images over source code for
saving, loading and exchange? Or is what you're describing also
possible using source code instead of images and then looks something
like the ideas of Bret Victor (http://worrydream.com)?

Marijn
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