[plt-scheme] why no send/suspend in tutorial? (was: Re: web-server question)

On Dec 8, 2008, at 7:43 PM, Jay McCarthy wrote:

> I think you are looking for send/suspend/dispatch:
>
> (send/suspend/dispatch
>  (lambda (embed/url)
>   (let ([p ....])
>    `(a ([href ,(embed/url (lambda (req) (remove-post!  
> p) ....))]) ....)))
>
> http://docs.plt-scheme.org/web-server/web_ss.html#(def._((lib._web- 
> server/servlet/web..ss)._send/suspend/dispatch))

I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now, but this prompts  
me (er, so to speak) to write:

Send/suspend/dispatch seems like a sometimes-useful function, but  
that exclusive use of send/suspend/dispatch (as the new tutorial  
exemplifies) makes impossible the "nice" thing that continuations  
enable.  In particular, I'm thinking of code like this, from my  
solution to one of Shriram's assignments:

(let loop ()
   (let ([new-post (get-post)])
     (when (confirm-post? new-post)
         (add-post! new-post))
     (loop))

The idea is that get-post and confirm-post? both use send/suspend.   
However, if you try to rewrite these to use send/suspend/dispatch,  
then you lose the ability to write the program this way without using  
hidden fields, which is really the raison d'etre of the PLT web  
server, IIUC.

John Clements

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