> > Alan Manuel Gloria:
> >>     Handle multiline comments and other #-foolery.
> >>
> >>       TODO: Need to add #{weird symbol}# syntax to Guile
> >>         compatibility layer.
> >
> > Youch, that's a lot of complexity to implement what is notionally a simple 
> > capability.
> >
> > I'm not sure I understand why this is so complicated.  Can you help me 
> > understand why it's hard to localize the support for multiline functions?

Alan Manuel Gloria:
> Because of the limitations on the read interface (pass in just a port,
> get out just a datum).  And the lack of unlimited readahead.
> 
> In any case, in a monadic form the support for comment-tag gets hidden
> away in the plumbing, but as we are not using a monadic form (this
> being Scheme where monadic form is not idiomatic) then any changes in
> the plumbing become significant changes *everywhere*.
> 
> For example, in the modern-expressions parser I sent on the list a
> long way back, I think the changes would have been *much* more
> localized into the parser backend.
> 
> But since there is no parser backend in the basic implementation,
> there is nothing to locally change - every function handles the port
> directly, instead of indicating some transformation that will
> *eventually* handle the port.
> 
> In short, not enough abstraction in the initial implementation ^^
> 
> >  Maybe we can change how we interpret something, so we can vastly simplify 
> > the implementation.  Before merging, I want to make sure we *have* to go 
> > this way; this will have a continuing drag on any other implementation 
> > work.  It may be hamper acceptance, if the implementation has to be this 
> > ugly; the code will certainly be part of a SRFI proposal.
> >
> > In short: Can we find another, simpler way to do this?
> 
> Yeah, monads.  Or macros.

Hmm.  Well, we need the functionality, so it's in.  Thanks for doing it, I 
didn't realize that part would have as many far-reaching effects.

--- David A. Wheeler

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