Allowing users to rewrite or customize the read function may bring two benifits: 1. Users can create concrete syntax, not just abstract syntax supported by normal macros. They can even make their own infix syntax. The language designer just needs to care about the basic prefix syntax. 2. Arc doesn't have a module system, and I believe it won't have any module systems. But if users write their own reader, Arc is able to support some sort of package systems like CL's. |