Subject: Re: Avoiding unintentional variable capture From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no> Date: 1999/09/10 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3145964695296475@naggum.no> * Dorai Sitaram | Well, all right. FWIW, I am sorry you had all those harrowing | experiences with the Scheme community. What comes across very clearly in | your response is that you have this antipathy toward the Scheme | community, if not toward Scheme per se. Either kind of antipathy is OK. | I still think it is unfortunate to be enraged or seduced into silly | untruths because of that. Fighting fire with fire really works only for | the Fire Department. Out here it only adds to that "sociological mess" | that you feel burned by. excuse me, but why should I feel any better about Scheme, now? you attack one of the most knowledgeable persons in _both_ communities for no reason at all. is this _another_ instance of "political correctness"? tell you what: I want to write nice, working programs that don't take forever and to use as much of the legacy of mankind as possible in the process. that's why I can't stand Scheme, which makes me feel like I have been given exquisitely shaped flint stones and a beautifully prepared coat made from a bear's hide, and then I have to re-invent everything from there, which will neither be exquisite nor beauitiful because I don't have 40,000 years to reinvent everything from where Scheme left us in anything but rough ways. since Scheme people tend to be extraordinarily proud of their hand-made bear coats and swing flint stones like no one has ever seen and then challenge everyone they meet to compete with them on such terms, especially Common Lisp people, I also find little reason to frequent Scheme communities. when you arrive with your own neanderthal attitude, Dorai, I tend to think that Scheme people should be left alone, possibly relocated to a reservation, but let's make sure we don't leave any metal ores nearby. there's no telling what would happen if the Scheme community discovered bronze, or god forbid, iron. but at least you're _incredibly_ hygienic and elegant, and I, too, admire your fine flint stones, as long as I don't have to use them for anything. #:Erik -- it's election time in Norway. explains everything, doesn't it?