From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: Jim Blandy <jimb@red-bean.com>
To: Keisuke Nishida <kxn30@po.cwru.edu>
Cc: Kalle Olavi Niemitalo <tosi@ees2.oulu.fi>, guile-emacs@sourceware.cygnus.com
Subject: Re: guile-emacs GC (was special forms)
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 13:48:00 -0000
Message-id: <m34sa79a6q.fsf@savonarola.red-bean.com>
References: <87n1o1p9kt.fsf@PC486.Niemitalo.LAN> <m3snxtb3sh.fsf@kei.cwru.edu> <iznbt4gy6m3.fsf@stekt.oulu.fi> <m3d7owlb9l.fsf@kei.cwru.edu> <iznpuswqsyf.fsf@stekt.oulu.fi> <m33dpsl56b.fsf@kei.cwru.edu> <iznn1o0qq3q.fsf@stekt.oulu.fi> <873dpsauvn.fsf_-_@PC486.Niemitalo.LAN> <m37lf47zrg.fsf@kei.cwru.edu>
X-SW-Source: 2000-q1/msg00019.html

> Seriously, I think we have to make some restrictions on Lisp
> programs so they don't keep Scheme values.  I think people of
> Guile Emacs do not want to write new programs in Lisp, so it's
> not a problem.  If people of Lisp want to use Guile's features,
> it is the time to move to the Guile-based Emacs.

Honestly, this doesn't seem like a good idea.  There are zillions of
useful Emacs Lisp functions that are part of Emacs right now, and it
would be a fatal mistake to push a design which doesn't encourage the
Lisp and Scheme worlds to share data freely.

The best approach is to change Emacs Lisp to use Guile objects.  That
is, Fcons (if I remember correctly) should call SCM_NEWCELL, and so
on.  That way, the two languages operate on a common GC, and can share
data freely.

Ken Raeburn has already done a lot of this work.  You really should
look at his patches.