On Sun, Jul 8, 2012 at 8:50 AM, David A. Wheeler <dwhee...@dwheeler.com> wrote:
>> 2. almkglor: treat QUOTE-whitespace the same as the symbol 'quote.
>>
>> 2.1. Pros:
>> 2.1.1. Makes QUOTE etc. rules very very simple
>> 2.2. Cons:
>> 2.2.1. The following syntax is no longer correct:
>>
>> ..` let
>> ......\
>> ........,var ,val
>> ......,expr
>>
>> As it gets translated to (quasiquote let (((unquote var) (unquote
>> val))) (unquote expr))
>
> ...
>> However, it could be argued that this is actually *clearer* - but we
>> do lose the vertical space, sadly.
>
> I don't like this alternative. Quote, quasiquote, and so on are really common
> (especially quote!); creating situations where we have to have more blank
> lines & more indentation for a common case sounds user-unfriendly.
>
> If you say:
> 'a b c
> that maps, reasonably enough, to ('a b c).
>
> But how can you quote the WHOLE list, if you already have it (a common text
> modification)? Creating a new line, and having to re-indent, seems painful.
> The original SFRI had this as a special case; you can then say:
> ' a b c
> which then maps to '(a b c) which is really (quote (a b c)).
>
> Pros for '+space having a different meaning from no space:
> * Makes it easy to quote existing lists (or quasiquote, or whatever).
> * Consistent with SFRI.
>
> Cons:
> * Makes spec little longer
> * Thus, slightly more work to implement (but not much)
>
> We only need to implement this a few times, and we hope there will be a LOT
> of code that uses it. I think making the spec longer, but the result easier
> to use, is worth it. And staying consistent with the existing SFRI on this
> point sounds like a good idea, too.
All right, let me clarify my position:
1. ' followed directly by non-whitespace is treated the same as in
modern-expressions: 'f is (quote f)
2. ' followed directly by whitespace is treated as the symbol quote:
' is just quote
So this:
'foo
and this:
'
..foo
are the same.
This simplifies the spec, but makes the following wrong:
' foo bar
==>
(quote foo bar)
The more complicated current spec yields:
' foo bar
==>
(quote (foo bar))
Both specs have:
'foo bar
===>
((quote foo) bar)
Sincerely,
AmkG
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