reflection (was: The Cathedral and the Bazaar.)

[Jecel Assumpcao Jr]

Eric W. Biederman wrote:
> I really don't want to commit myself at this point.  My todo list is
> already quite long for working on dosemu.  But here are some ideas
> anyway.
> 
> a) Define reflectivity in laymans terms.
> 
> Reflectivity -
>   In a large system the ability to define that system from parts that
> are already present.

No - this is "extensibility", not reflectivity. Reflective
systems are (always?) extensible, so the confusion is natural.
In a reflective system some parts are defined in terms of
themselves.

>   Basically a well factored system.  So at any level you can use the
> same tools that you rewrite that abstraction layer.   And as much as
> possible those tools won't be hidden.

This is always a good idea, and your Scheme for doing this
seems pretty solid to me ;-)

-- Jecel