Re: Guile is a great idea, but where's the community?

[Richard Todd]

Marco Parrone (marc0) wrote:
> IMHO what is missing is code to use, libraries, IMHO it's not worthy
> the fact that it is standardized or not.

Well, the reason to get them organized and collected is so that you can 
write new guile code and just assume that users will have the modules 
you depend on.  If you depend on lots of independent libraries, with 
varying standards for documentation, packaging, backwards-compatibility, 
and installation, then many would-be users will pass you by.  Not to 
mention the fact that, based on the guile projects web page, sites with 
interesting-sounding guile code have a habit of disappearing.


> For example I'm developing a mail-to-news
> (http://www.nongnu.org/mail-to-news) gateway in Guile Scheme, and I'm
> finding myself implemeting almost only things already implemented in
> Emacs, and now I'm considering rewriting the program in Elisp - thing
> that I think will take much less time than finishing it in Guile
> Scheme.  As both Guile Scheme and Emacs Lisp are good languages, I can
> not justify myself the work required to duplicate the efforts.

In terms of guile, I would think the best thing to do is finish it in 
scheme, and release all the Emacs-like functionality separately in the 
form of re-usable modules.  That way, you will be the last person who 
has to go through this pain.  IMHO, efforts like that will gain the 
project the momentum it needs to grow a community of users like the OP 
was asking for.  The library project I'm proposing would give those 
modules a place to live, get them into the hands of guile users, and 
guarantee certain standards of quality and consistency.

Richard Todd