Re: Fwd: Dylan stuff

Hi Mikel,


On 11/01/2013 09:09, Bruce Mitchener wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: mikel evins <[email protected]>
> Date: Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 2:30 PM
> Subject: Re: Dylan stuff
> To: Bruce Mitchener <[email protected]>
> Cc: mikel evins <[email protected]>
> 
> So the question is, what should I use as a standard for the S-expression
> syntax? I'm guessing the process is something like: start by looking for a
> syntax in Andrew's 1992 reference manual that corresponds to the current
> infix syntax; if I find one, and it suitably matches the current semantics
> without problems, use that. If there are new features to take into account,
> or if there's a mismatch for some other reason, attempt to find a
> minimally-disruptive modification to the syntax that reconciles with the
> current language; if that fails, ask you and the other maintainers and
> users of the language what seems to you to be the right solution.
> 
> If we're lucky, an obvious or at least uncontroversial s-expression version
> of the current syntax will be clear. Failing that, we can hope that a lot
> of the corner cases can be easily resolved by a little discussion.
> 
> That leaves places where we'll have to do actual design work for the
> S-expression syntax. I don't mind doing that work, but I don't want to
> unilaterally impose any of my idiosyncracies on the language without
> running them by the current users.
> 
> So if you or others have input about how to decide what the revived
> s-expression syntax looks like, either now or later, I'd be very interested
> to hear it.

The DIRM did not consider macros at all - I'm not sure (since I never
used it) what the state of Apple Dylan and macros is/was.

I found a draft from Moon about macros
(https://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/clisp/hackers/wlott/dylan/moon/Dylan-Macros.RTF)
[based on Scheme macros by Dybvig and Hieb], which might be interesting
to discuss in the design process.

Not sure if you've a DIRM at hand - I found an online version somewhere
and put a copy at
http://opendylan.org/~hannes/XXX/prefix-dylan/book.annotated/contents.html


The question I have since several years in my mind is whether it is
possible to design an abstract syntax which is used by the macro system.
This would allow shared macros between infix and prefix syntax.

Another question is how that integrates with D-Expressions (procedural
macros, used inside of the compiler
https://people.csail.mit.edu/jrb/Projects/dexprs.pdf).

I'm really looking forward to this project/discussion. If you've
questions about the compiler internals, please ask them - there might be
people around which are able to answer these (myself included).


Cheers,

Hannes
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