[r6rs-discuss] (no subject)

[Andrew Reilly]

On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 08:25:56PM -0800, Guillermo J. Rozas wrote:
> I'd like to know how to run some code that converts the printed books
> that I have on my library shelves.
> 
> Or are you suggesting that I ask the writers and publishers to publish
> a new edition, and I then buy it?

Why not?  There are plenty of examples of printed books that
contain code examples for systems that are out of date or relate
to an older standard.  That's not new.  If they have on-going
relevance, chances are there will one day be a new edition that
complies with the standard of the day, or there will be a
backwards-compatible execution environment maintained by
someone, just so that that code continues to "work".  As far as
I can tell, one of the explicit reasons for the multi-dialect
nature of the PLT scheme environment is to provide support for
various versions found in textbooks.

Or not.  I have a book full of Z-80 assembly code for a TRS-80
Model-1 on my shelf.  That's *never* going to run again.

I've got plenty of books with C code in pre-ANSI form.  I can
probably still find a compiler for that, but it'll get harder as
time passes.  Doesn't diminish their value as books though.

One of my favourite books had all of the code in Pascal, and
I don't remember having ever had a Pascal compiler in my
posession.

I don't think that the book argument is the same as the portable
code argument, *especially* where it comes to questions of case,
since they also have type face choices.

Cheers,

-- 
Andrew