Re: Scheme syntax vs. other languages

[David Kastrup]

Jonathan Wilkes <address@hidden> writes:

>> Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:03:10 +0200
>> From: David Kastrup <address@hidden>
>> 
>> Most of the proposals about juggling extension languages are focusing on
>> the C++/Scheme border.  That's not the important one for the community
>> aspect.  At least not its details, but rather how far away from the user
>> you can push it by extending the reach of Scheme.  The important border
>> is that between LilyPond and Scheme.  Here is where empowerment of the
>> user happens.  Or not.
>
> Can you explain a little about how that empowerment happens?

By making the border easy to cross and return again, excursions lose
their terror.  If the step across the border is shallow, getting further
in is just a gradual process.

It's a bit of a bore to keep bringing this up all the time, but I think
a nice example of how this helps is
<URL:http://news.lilynet.net/?The-LilyPond-Report-23#feature_story_prelude_1_in_scheme>.

Please compare the scariness level of the code in there with the
inspiration I started from, Nicolas' article at
<URL:http://nicolas.sceaux.free.fr/prelude/prelude.html>.

By making much more diverse material able to cross into music functions,
the amount of actual _programming_ you need for getting at what you
want/need is much reduced, making the impression "I can learn to do
this!" quite easier to achieve.

-- 
David Kastrup