[plt-scheme] conventional syntax (was: Scheme contradictions)

>>  If a block syntax
>> is used, it should be as conventional as possible.
>
> Yes.
>
>> In my personal opinion, the
>> only sane choices would be Python syntax or VB/RB-style implicit block
>> syntax (with an end statement).
>
> Your definition of "conventional" surprises me. In a world dominated by
> C, C++, Java, C#, and Javascript, I think "conventional" means curly
> braces and semi-colons.
>

Well, I have to admit that in this definition of "conventional" my 
personal preferences have sneaked in. I agree that if you take it to 
mean simply what the majority uses and is accustomed to, then it has to 
be C/Java-style syntax. Anyway, honu looks very interesting.

I still wonder about my other suggestion, why nobody has developed a 
platform and language independent algorithm & datastructure source code 
interchange language yet. It would be XML-based and organized in 
layers. Just basic datastructures and 3 or 4 conventional control 
constructs at the core, then a layer of standard I/O, unicode, network 
functions, more elaborate primitive datastructures, possibly some GUI 
layers, and so on. The key is to keep the core language extremely 
simple and generic. Developers of specific languages could choose to 
implement one or many of these layers, and by  optionally restricting 
the language to be compatible to some interchange language layer it 
would become feasible to write algorithms in your favorite language and 
then let them be translated automatically into the interchange 
language/library format.

Well, it's just an idea. Anybody who has experience with open source 
projects and wants to start some, please let me know off the list and 
I'll be in.

Best regards,

Erich