Re: Patch to add (define-syntax (foo bar) ...) support

[Marijn]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On 09/02/11 15:33, Ian Price wrote:
> Andy Wingo <address@hidden> writes:
> 
>> On the whole I am skeptical.  But, Chez Scheme and Racket both
>> made this change.  So I could go either way, though I would like
>> thoughts from other people before proceeding.
> 
> While I like the change, another solution is to try to make a 
> 'syntax-case' form that returns a lambda like syntax-rules.
> 
> Either,
> 
> (define-syntax foo (syntax-case* () ((foo ...) ...) ...))
> 
> or if we need access to the syntax object for e.g. unhygienic
> macros
> 
> (define-syntax foo (syntax-case* stx () ((foo ...) ...) ...))

If you reduce the requirement of being able to elide `stx' when it's
not used, then it becomes the really simple:

(define-syntax-rule (syntax-case/fn stx . args)
  (lambda (stx)
    (syntax-case stx . args)))

Personally I think there should also be a macro that let's one write:

(define-syntax-rules syntax-case/fn
  ((_ stx . args)
   (lambda (stx)
     (syntax-case stx . args)) ))

but which would also be able to handle the case of multiple rules.

> I haven't used this in practice, but it would cut down on some 
> consistent verbosity. A rough implementation could be
> 
> (define-syntax syntax-case* (lambda (stx)  ; goodbye forever old
> friend ;-) (syntax-case stx () ((syntax-case* syntax-object
> literals rule rules ...) (identifier? #'syntax-object) #'(lambda
> (syntax-object) (syntax-case syntax-object literals rule rules
> ...))) ((syntax-case* literals rule rules ...) #'(lambda
> (syntax-object) (syntax-case syntax-object literals rule rules
> ...))))))

The following macro seems equivalent:

(define-syntax syntax-case/fn
  (syntax-rules ()
    ((_ (lits ...) . rules)
     (lambda (stx)
       (syntax-case stx (lits ...) . rules)))
    ((_ stx (lits ...) . rules)
     (lambda (stx)
       (syntax-case stx (lits ...) . rules)))))

or using the above ``defined'' define-syntax-rules:

(define-syntax-rules syntax-case/fn
  ((_ (lits ...) . rules)
   (lambda (stx)
     (syntax-case stx (lits ...) . rules)))
  ((_ stx (lits ...) . rules)
   (lambda (stx)
     (syntax-case stx (lits ...) . rules)))))

> It wouldn't match up with the meaning of syntax-case* in racket,
> but if that's important to anyone, feel free to come up with
> another name :-)

Some alternative names might be syntax-case/fn, syntax-case/l,
syntax-case/lambda (but kinda defeats the purpose of not having to
type lambda).

Anyway, less typing for macro boilerplate is something I appreciate.

Marijn

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.18 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

iEYEARECAAYFAk5kgT8ACgkQp/VmCx0OL2zyugCguOpctFfLTV+x45cZ0IXrkv6u
ejMAn1ECvJyPbQHwSe1TT2Kd0h2sp8oX
=wv9z
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----