principle of least surprise

[Alex Arnon]

Could it be possible to trace the execution of such a function executing in
a guard, and raise an exception if it performs a side-effect-causing
operation? AFAIK the set of such operations is rather small in erlang: (off
the top of my head)
- Message sends.
- Side-effect inducing BIFs (which can be marked as part of their
implementation).

So if we keep a "side-effect allowed" flag stack along (or as part of) the
process stack, implementation should be easy... or would it? :)

I find this feature to be highly desirable, even more than the
multi-scheduler VM that will surely grace us with its presence Real Soon
Now. :)
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