Ticket 360: Formal Comment: Change syntax of escaped symbols from |<symbol element>*| to #"<string element>*"

Submitter's Name: Arthur Smyles

Submitter's Email Address: atsmyles at verizon dot net

Draft Version of Report: 6th

Section of draft R7RS: 7.1.1. Lexical structure

Summary:

Change syntax of [escaped] symbols from |<symbol element>*| to #"<string element>*"

Full Description:

The vertical line character is being proposed as a syntax for literal symbols. This symbol however is used by SCSH to represent shell-style pipes. The backslash is also being used for the same purpose (which is currently used by Gambit for infix notation). Also the <symbol element> and <string element> production are practically identical only differing because of the quote symbol used.

This proposal will allow freeing the | and \ characters for future use and eliminate <symbol element> production from the syntax.