Is there a design rationale document?

[ungar at mac.com]

Hello all,

Thank you for adding me to this list.

I have just finished reading the language proposal spec, and was  
struck by the richness of the additions to the language. I haven't  
been following this effort at all; and so thank people in advance for  
their patience with my ignorance. Now that I've seen the spec, there  
are two more documents that would really help my understanding:

I was wondering if there exists a document that sets out the language  
design goals and the connection between each feature and the goals it  
supports? In my mind's eye, I picture a table of goals along one axis,  
and features on the other, with entries filled in where a given  
feature helps or hinders a given goal. Does this document exist? If  
not, would it be helpful if it did?

Also, sometimes a feature can, in combination with some other language  
feature, create undesirable interactions. Again, in my mind's eye, I  
picture a table with all of the features in each axis, and the entries  
describe how each pair of features either reinforce, interfere with,  
or have no effect on each other. Does such a document exist? And would  
it be helpful if it did?

Thank you,

- David


PS: Is there a list of the original committee members anywhere? I  
haven't run across that.