Re: cell

[Neil Jerram]

>>>>> "Masao" == Masao Uebayashi <address@hidden> writes:

    >> it's important to not overexpose the Guile internals in the
    >> reference manual (or any user manual).

    Masao> Agreed - but I think that the internal behavier should be
    Masao> exposed to some extent, in a good manner.

    Masao> I have been really impressed by the Environmental Model
    Masao> figures presented in Chapter 3 in `SICP'.  It seems to me
    Masao> that the model is next to the best way to show novice
    Masao> programmers how programs works. (though it looks to
    Masao> abstract/simplify things too much).

    Masao> I'd hope that the Guile manual includes more figures to
    Masao> help users understand things without reducing materials
    Masao> about Guile's internal.

I don't think there's any dispute here.  Figures (and good text) are
very useful when describing important concepts, such as lexical
environment chaining and the meaning of closure.  And just because a
figure is there does not mean that it reflects the underlying
implementation (i.e. the `internals').

On a practical level, unfortunately, figures in Texinfo are a bit of a
pain.

        Neil