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Re: First-class environment proposal

Jim Blandy <jimb@red-bean.com> writes:

>    This is a draft proposal for a new datatype for representing
> top-level environments in Guile.

Looks *very* nice.

Some questions:

How are mass modifications of an environment going to be handled?  How
would--for example--the source for a module be reloaded?  How would
the private environment of the module be cleared and refilled without
going into a frenzy of observer calls?  Can such a reloading be
atomic?  What is atomic?  Especially when environments are implemented
in Scheme?

What about providing a `soft' environment?  That would essentially
consist of exporting the C interface for defining new environments to
Scheme.  Is that worthwhile in the face if goops?