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R5RS interpreters need not apply?



I received the following comment from an rrrs-author:

   I think it's fair to say that the designers of the R4RS macro
   system tend to think in terms of a compiled Scheme system, where
   the macro expansion phase costs little because it can be combined
   with the pass that performs syntax checking and alpha conversion.
   You've convinced me that there is an extra load-time cost for some
   purely interpreted systems.

Are the considerations of scheme interpreters no longer relevant to
the authors?  R4RS was implementable in a small, fast program; The
macro requirement of R5RS is not.