On Thursday, September 6, 2012 8:31:59 PM UTC-7, Weber, Martin S wrote: > > The question that's left for me is: why vectors and lists? I mean, from a > data format perspective, and a non-clojure implementor, I'm not sure the > distinction makes sense. After all for the _data format_, in its serialized > form, the vector will not be a random access structure. It has to be > deserialized, and access to an element will have linear time complexity. > Again, I understand its relevance from the clojure perspective. Is this > just "too important" for edn's current "implementor", clojure ? >
a) This is just a feedback draft, and having both vectors and lists may not be a grand commitment so much as a proposal. b) Every format will involve a tradeoff between how much is baked in as a required primitive and how much is added via the extensibility mechanism, in this case tags. Deciding whether to include both lists and vectors is just adjusting the line between whether the edn library provider does more work and the edn library user does less work, or vice versa. Again, it's just a line in the sand and there will always be borderline cases of what different people consider "must-have." c) Yes, if clojure and datomic use both lists and vectors frequently enough and in different enough capacities, they can legitimately desire to have both capabilities built into their interchange format, particularly if it makes it concise and convenient to communicate with clojure/datomic (instead, for example, of having to type `#list ()` all the time). It doesn't need to be a universally minimalist generic format, and it _does_ need to be a format simple enough for other languages/ecosystems to implement so that they can communicate with clojure/datomic. These constraints seem sufficient to want to push the edn decisions close to where they are in the proposal. Like most other real world formats, there is a real use case that this one has in mind even if it's not fully abstractly general. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en
