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Re: guile as applications language


nwv@acm.org writes:
>  I would
> just like to know whether I should risk moving all my new app
> development to Guile Scheme or stick with other (unmentionable)
> languages.

Ah, this is something entirely different: originally, GUILE started as
rms's project to provide uniform and universal extensibility for GNU
applications. At present it is an embeddable Scheme interpreter, and
some of your wishes are in GUILE already.

>Dynamic-linking of native code modules for those few things that
>    really should be written in C or that are already written in C

There is code in dynl.c. GUILE was designed to be embedded in
C-programs. I have no experience writing and loading stand-alone C
modules from Scheme, though.

>  * Some language improvements, such as lexical scoping,

IIRC Scheme is always lexically scoped

> module system, etc.

WIP

>* Standard object system for OO programming.

GOOPS, also WIP

> I'd sincerely appreciate hearing from the decision-makers when they
> have time to comment.

I am not a decisionmaker, but my impression is that many people are
actively pursuing almost all the tasks you mention. I don't see reason
why they cannot be in GUILE (apart from compilation, maybe). 

As far as I am concerned, the directon of GUILE should be determined
by those who write and use GUILE (note that that is something
different from "those who consider using GUILE"). So you can influence
where development goes by participating.

Whether you should take the risk of moving, that's your own business,
but I am confident that GUILE development will continue in the nearby
future.

-- 

Han-Wen Nienhuys   |   hanwen@cs.uu.nl    | http://www.cs.uu.nl/~hanwen/


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