Re: with-slots usage question

>>>>> "Mario" == Mario Mommer <[email protected]>:
 Mario> "Robert P. Goldman" <[email protected]> writes:
 >> I still remember what happened when I invested heavily in using
 >> SERIES!  :-(

 Mario> Could you elaborate? I was thinking on using SERIES for a
 Mario> project (well, among other things to learn them). What went
 Mario> wrong?

I'm very interested, too, as I've been using SERIES for a while now (for
simple things, though).

I can say what I learned in the process:

  -- SERIES isn't obvious. It isn't just a nice functional abstraction,
     it's an optimization technique as well (or mostly). This means that
     if you don't use it properly, it will bite you. I didn't expect
     that, especially since the documentation was hinting that if you
     don't get everything right, you'll just get slower code, not
     incorrect code. That most certainly hasn't been true in my
     experience.

  -- If you want to use SERIES, get the original AIM-1082 tech report
     from MIT (available as PDF). It is different from everything else
     I've seen in one important detail: the off-line ports in function
     parameters are underlined. Makes for a world of difference.

  -- I could really do with good examples on how to properly use the
     code. What's worse, few people use SERIES, which means it isn't
     always easy to get help when you're stuck.

Overall, while I still don't fully know SERIES, I find it an extremely
nice and useful tool. I think it gets too little recognition because of
the issues above.

--J.

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