Re: keywords

Alain MELLAN (ma14@stm.com)
Wed, 24 Sep 1997 13:18:52 +0200

>>>>> "Maciej" == edu <mstachow> writes:

Maciej> Guile now uses #:ident as the normal syntax for keywords,
Maciej> and has a reader option (off by default) to recognize the
Maciej> :ident syntax as well.

Then, does it make sense to have the flag tell guile to recognize
ident: as well as :ident?

Maciej> It depends on what you mean by "right". Common Lisp and
Maciej> most traditional Lisp systems use :ident for keywords,
Maciej> DSSSL (and apparently some Scheme implementations) use
Maciej> ident:, and R4RS says neither of these may be a
Maciej> non-symbol. Since keywords are a non-standard extension to
Maciej> Scheme, there's no absolute agreement on what the correct
Maciej> syntax is.

As I understand it, keywords are some kind of auto-quoted symbols.
Of course I could do:

(define name: 'name:)
(define print: 'print:) etc

but I don't really like it, and I'd prefer them recognized as keywords
and auto-quoted.

-- alain.