Re: modules and syntax

[Michael Vanier <mvanier@bbb.caltech.edu>]

One minor syntactic nit to pick with the proposed module system: wouldn't
it be more convenient if the entire module definition did not have to be
inside a single form?  In other words, instead of:

    (module HelloWorld  ; the module name
            Scheme      ; initial syntax and variable bindings
                        ;   for the module body
     ; the module body
     (display "Hello world!")
     (newline))

allow (instead of or in addition to the above):

    (begin-module HelloWorld Scheme)

    (display "Hello world!")
    (newline)

    (end-module HelloWorld)

What concerns me is that if you have a lot of definitions inside a module,
you will have to remember to end the module with the closing paren, which
is kind of unpleasant:

    (module FooBar
			Scheme

	;; Lots of definitions

	) ;; end of module foobar

Just my 2 cents.

Mike