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+# A little bit of syntax sugar never hurt anyone
+
+## Lambda shorthands
+
+We could benefit from a more minimal syntax to express lambda, as an
+alternative to the written-out form:
+
+```scheme
+
+;; {x ... expr} = (lambda (x ...) expr)
+
+(map {x y (+ x y)} xs ys)
+
+(for-each {x (display x)} objects)
+
+```
+
+## Vector and map references
+
+Furthermore, `foo[bar]` could be sugar for `(vector-ref foo bar)` and
+`foo{bar}` could be sugar for `(map-ref foo bar)` or the like.  (Not
+sure yet whether to use the word "map" for a data type, due to the
+overlap with the `map` function.  Perhaps `mapping`.  In any case
+there must be a map kind of data type in the standard library.)
+
+## Records
+
+Why not make `foo.bar` reader syntax for `(record-ref foo bar)` where
+`record-ref` is a macro that interprets `bar` as a constant?
+
+Admittedly, this loses us some elegance compared to the widely used
+SRFI 9 (standardized in R7RS-small) where field getters only exist as
+procedures, so making a field "private" is simply a matter of leaving
+the getter out of your module exports.
+
+A general `record-ref` that accepts field names would need to be aware
+of the concept of private fields and block access to them except if
+invoked in a context where the private fields are accessible.
+
+I think the nice syntax is worth the added complexity.  It doesn't
+seem terribly difficult to expand the concept of "lexical scope" to
+include field accessibility information.
+
+Alternatively, we could just not have private fields, like in Python.
+Fields that are meant to be private could be named in a special way by
+convention, such as `%foo` or whatever.  I have to check whether real
+encapsulation would provide us with any substantial benefits, such as
+in optimization.
+
+Oh, speaking of performance, of course `(record-ref x y)` has a big
+problem: It would require dynamic dispatch since the type of x is not
+statically known.  (And no we don't want to write `person.person-age`,
+we want `person.age` where `age` is not treated as an identifier but
+merely as a symbol for lookup.)
+
+It may be that we want to add static typing to Zisp!
+
+We may also add OOP-style objects and only use the dot notation for
+their methods, but not fields.  The reader syntax for `foo.bar` may
+then expand to `(method-dispatch foo bar)`.  It would also work for
+fields if we really did add static typing, of course.  The reason it
+would only work on methods is that those need dynamic dispatch anyway.
+
+THIS POINT NEEDS A LOT MORE CONSIDERATION!
+
+## Built-in SRFI 17
+
+The functionality of SRFI 17 should be a core aspect of the language,
+so the following all work:
+
+```scheme
+
+;; Vector
+(define vec (vector 1 2 3))
+(set! vec[n] value)
+
+;; Some kind of mapping
+(define table (make-table))
+(set! table{key} value)
+
+;; Record type
+(define rec (make-foo))
+(set! rec.field value)
+
+```