[r6rs-discuss] Scheme winnitude (was: macros)

[Lynn Winebarger]

On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 7:50 AM, Sam TH <samth at ccs.neu.edu> wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 1:44 AM, John Cowan <cowan at ccil.org> wrote:
>> Frankly, I continue to think that macro systems other than syntax-rules
>> (which I agree is a great thing) are way too scary to use.
>
> I hope you don't think that this is a necessary feature of procedural
> macro systems, just that they haven't been presented in the
> appropriate form.  But I do think that this is an indictment of those
> of use who love Scheme's more powerful macro features, for not having
> explained their usefulness or their usability.

Do you similarly indict users of indirection for not having adequately
explained the usability of pointers to the masses?  There appears to
be a large subset of humanity for whom pointers are never going to be
usable.

The macro stepper is a helpful tool, but understanding and designing
macros is another of those really big steps.  It's just really easy to
not understand the meaning of a macro after I wrote it.  Err, "after
writing it" - Freudian slip.

Lynn