[r6rs-discuss] [Formal] #;<datum> comments useless

[Per Bothner]

Submitter's name: Per Bothner
Submitter's email address: per at bothner.com
Type of issue: Simplification
Priority: Minor
R6RS component: Formal syntax
Version of the report: 5.91
One-sentence summary of the issue: #;<datum> comments useless

Having 3 different comment syntaxes (four, if you count #!)
is overkill.  #;<datum> adds no expressive power, and is
dangerous, and should be removed.

#;<datum> is always equivalent to #|<datum>|#.  It sames two
characters, at the cost of making it harder to see where the
comment ends.    The expressed rationale is to make it easy to comment
out sections of code - but it only makes sense to use it during
development/debugging.  In "production" code or anything else supposed
to be maintainable you clearly should use #|...|# instead since it
is much safer and clearer exactly what is commented out.
And during development/debugging you can use an editor/IDE which
can just as easily enclude code in #|...|# comments.

Furthermore, #|<datum>|# is strictly more powerful, since it can
comment out not just a single <datum> but as many as you want.

#; is the sort of "save two characters" "feature" which
is not appropriate in a Scheme standard.
-- 
	--Per Bothner
per at bothner.com   http://per.bothner.com/