[E-Lang] E Project, Documentation, and new programmers

[Jonathan S. Shapiro]

I have watched the various syntax discussions of the past week with
dismay, because in the long run I felt that most of the changes
contemplated really had no larger significance. I cannot point to one
that I think was worth breaking existing code for. Offhand, I'm not
really convinced that they improved the ability to do persistence
(though I haven't tracked this closely).

Further, I think it's absurd that in contemplating these changes we did
not insist on automated forward conversion (rewriting) so that our
customers would be manageably disrupted.

The point here is not to berate anyone. It's to suggest that as a group
we lost sight of the mission and slipped temporarily from "design for
usability" into "design for abstract beauty". The success to date of E
derives from the former, not the latter. I want to suggest that we
figure out where we lost track of the former attitude and go back and
retrieve it.

Frankly, if it would get OpenCola back I think we should seriously
consider reverting to 089.

My only regret is that I have been seriously underwater for the last
three months and failed to express my concerns coherently when they
might have been more useful.  My apologies.


Jonathan