Bumping this thread, since this is becoming more of a blocker for my efforts with Session.
I think there are three operations you want to do on the unknown literal wrapper: 1. print/serialize it (this would just output the original string you read in) 2. get the tag name 3. get the uninterpreted data structure I think the wrapper should be a datatype rather than an ordinary collection. That way, if you try to manipulate it, it will fail immediately and in an obvious way. If it is a collection, there is a potential for conflict if the "intended" tagged literal interpretation implements some of the same protocols as the collection. The minimal protocol could look like (defprotocol IUnknownLiteral (literal-name [this]) (literal-data [this]) and then you would simply have (deftype UnknownLiteral [name data] IUnknownLiteral (literal-name [this] name) (literal-data [this] data)) (In the cljs case it can also implement the printing protocol (which doesn't exist in clj), though thats an implementation detail.) Other names could be: (Generic|Undefined|Inert)(Literal|Data|Tag) The only conceptual issue is what to do with metadata. Should the UnknownLiteral be allowed to have its own metadata? Or should it attempt to delegate it's metadata to whatever metadata was originally associated with its literal-data? If it has it's own metadata, this will be lost upon re-serialization. Delegating to the literal-data will not work when the literal-data is not a type that supports metadata. The middle ground is to allow it to have its own meta data, and upon serialization, just attach it to its literal-data, and upon deserialization you get what you get. This may be the best option, but this feels like a pretty hypothetical question. It might be best to just not do anything with metadata right now and decide later once there is some experience. thoughts? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en
