[mercury-users] lisp macros

[Michael Day]

> It isn't really relevant, because the point was what macros can do for
> you.  They can hide "plumbing"; they can define new binding forms (like
> with-open-file, for example); they can make your code a lot shorter.

Right I get it with the DCG example; took me a while to wrap my head
around the idea.

> that you can't hide the plumbing.  Take a look at HaXML (which uses
> combinators, not macros).  What would that look like in Mercury?  Bigger.

Hmm, combinators are another thing I don't fully grok, but I've looked at
HaXML and I thought that such a thing could be done in Mercury in roughly
the same way? For example Thomas Conway's combinator based XML parser,
where the only wrinkle is the fairly unnecessary mode declarations on the
lambda expressions. Or is this and unnecessary punctuation all that you
are referring to?

Michael

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
mercury-users mailing list
post:  mercury-users at cs.mu.oz.au
administrative address: owner-mercury-users at cs.mu.oz.au
unsubscribe: Address: mercury-users-request at cs.mu.oz.au Message: unsubscribe
subscribe:   Address: mercury-users-request at cs.mu.oz.au Message: subscribe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------