[Chicken-users] (declare (block))

[Shawn W.]

The documentation for (block) says that it indicates that global  
variables are never redefined.  Does that mean that I can't then load  
a unit that redefines some standard function and have the new  
definition work? Or does it mean that other files that load this unit  
can't redefine its variables and have those changes reflected in it?

What about things like the

(define incr # f)
(let* ((counter 0)
          (real-incr (lambda () (set! counter (+ 1 counter)) counter)))
        (set! incr real-incr))

trick for hiding static variables that persist across function calls?  
I'd assume that that would fail because it alters a global variable,  
but it seems to work in some testing I'm doing.

So what does block actually do?

Thanks.

--
Shawn W.
address@hidden