eq and hashing (was Re: [plt-scheme] How to make unit functors?)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matthew Flatt" <mflatt at cs.utah.edu>
To: "John Clements" <clements at brinckerhoff.org>
Cc: <plt-scheme at list.cs.brown.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 16:09
Subject: Re: eq and hashing (was Re: [plt-scheme] How to make unit
functors?)


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> At Thu, 29 May 2003 13:21:27 -0400, John Clements wrote:
> > Just to have the question out there:  how bad would it be never to
> > collect (the strings representing) symbols?
>
> Then clicking "Execute" in DrScheme wouldn't release all of the
> resources used by the previous run of a program under development. So
> it would be really bad.

How bad could it be?  There should be no observable difference when
interning a symbol already interned versus a fresh copy.  (Yes, I understand
the space issues, but how long does it take to type megabytes of
never-before-seen
interned symbols?)