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tail recursion
I don't think that anyone is under the illusion that the requirement
for proper tail recursion is anything other than a space saving
optimization
No. It is not just a space saving optimization, which is why it is
so important. I routinely write programs that run in CONSTANT SPACE
in a tail-recursive implementation, and which would rapidly die
in a non-tail recursive implementation. Tail recursive is a necessary
feature of Scheme, because my Scheme programs won't run in an
implementation without tail-recursion.
Would Scheme without garbage collection be Scheme? Would Scheme
without tail-recursion elimination be Scheme? These questions
are identical.
Daniel