Hi Allen, thanks for responding, and thanks for the language design
principles.

Allen Wirfs-Brock <Allen_Wirfs-Brock at Instantiations.com> wrote:
> The topic at hand is dynamic "variable" scoping.

I prefer messages to variables because they are more powerful and
general.  It allows more sophisticated queries, instead of just
returning a fixed value.  I guess I'm just proposing another form of
exception handling, where exceptions are distinguished by selector
instead of class, that is why I reused #on:do:.

I even like to think of global variables as messages sent to Smalltalk
or the class's environment/pool.  Like Self, no variables just objects
and messages.

To satisfy your design principles, we could change the syntax to:

foo
	Context bind: #world toDo: [myWorld] during: [self bar].

bar
	Context world.

Context would be an object that only understands #bind:toDo:during: and
#doesNotUnderstand:.  #doesNotUnderstand: would search the sender chain
for the first #bind:toDo:during: context for the message's selector and
execute its toDo: block.  I believe this syntax satisfies the design
principles you mention below.

> 1)      It should be easy to explain the feature to a new or relatively 
> unsophisticated Squeak programmer.
> 2)      A single, specific implementation technique should not be assumed 
> or required.
> 3)      Usage should not require deep knowledge of low level system 
> implementation details.
> 4)      Protocol vocabulary should be simple and reflect the intended usage 
> model.
> 5)      Protocol vocabulary should not expose the user to the vocabulary of 
> the low level system implementation.
> 6)      Protocol vocabulary should not imply or require a particular 
> implementation strategy for the feature.
> 7)      A distinct feature should use a distinct vocabulary that is 
> different from that of other, unrelated features.
> 8)      Don't design in "bugs waiting to happen"
> 9)      Put the most important things first.

So the real issue is variables versus messages.  What do you think?

Cheers,
Anthony