Re: Vectors as functions

[Shriram Krishnamurthi <address@hidden>]

Mike, I'm beginning to lose your drift (indeed, I fear I lost it a
long time ago).  I saw your messages as general pleas for more
programmer freedom in languages.  The responses I've seen (and
written) have been trying to say that there are usually good reasons
for the constraints that languages impose, not mere ignorance or
fascism.

When I say "we" are familiar with the issues, I mean the many language
designers and implementors on this list that I know, and by
extrapolation, the ones I don't.  (If any in the latter category want
to tell me I have overestimated their knowledge, feel free to pipe
in. <-;)

In short, I'm not arguing either for or against freedoms, just telling
you why they exist.  Put differently, if you seek a language that
isn't so constrained, I and others are telling you what price you may
need to incur.  (As a counterpoint, a language like Self gives you a
great deal of freedom, and was forced to invent (?) the Hotspot
technology now in Java to still provide reasonable performance.  I am
not aware of any comparable *reasoning* tools for Self, however.)

So, what is your point?

Shriram