Lexically vs. Dynamically scoped Lisps.

[Sanjai Narain <narain@rand-unix>]

        Scott:  A question has been bothering me for quite sometime and I
        wondered if you might be able to help.

        I know the distinction betwen lexically and dynamically scoped
        Lisps.  But what I am still not clear about is what is the
        advantage of lexical scoping, if at all.  Most people that I have
        talked to haven't said much beyond "But if you just look at SCHEME
        programs they are so much cleaner" etc.  I would be grateful if you
        could please illuminate me on this matter, or point me to
        references which discuss it.  I have gone through the MIT reports
        on SCHEME, and they didn't seemed to be much help, though I will
        look through them again if you recommend them.

	Thanks: Sanjai

Does anyone care to reply, or send Sanjai pointers to a good discussion of
the issues?   I'm a little ignorant myself.  Perhaps the T designers should
post a discussion of their design philosophy to this list, allowing those
of us who are distant to understand a bit better the sometimes random seeming
features of T.

						-- Scott