Re: guile: going the way of DEATH

Jim Blandy (jimb@red-bean.com)
13 Aug 1998 23:12:35 -0400

> Many interesting comments have been made on this subject. I hope Jim
> Blandy and others are not discouraged by them.

Nope. :)

> I agree that some parts are a mess. The documentation needs updated
> as soon as possible. Without good docs, you have to really want to
> use Guile to work with it. This will scare off the casual programmer
> that is looking for an extension language.

Yep.

> 1. Minimal startup time. Yes, I know you can reduce Guile's
> startup time by various hacks. It *needs* to be fast right
> out the box.

Yep.

> 2. Minimal core. Everything other than basic functionality
> needs to be a module.

Yep.

> 3. Drop dead simple networking (a module). Guile more or less
> does this already, except that it needs to be a module and
> recv! needs supplemented in some way.

Yep.

> 4. Drop dead simple GUI (a module). Like STk. I know GUI isn't
> important to everyone. Add it to the above features and you
> have a language that can compete in the Real World with PERL
> and TCL.

Yep.

> So when are you gonna *DO* something about it, Blandy?

After 1.3. We'll begin to address all these things, or I'll find
another maintainer. At the moment, I have to pack.