Re: Perl, English, syntax for Scheme and shells (was Re: scsh in scm ...)

[Shriram Krishnamurthi <shriram@cs.rice.edu>]

Paul Wilson wrote:

>                            Instead of macroexpanding as a conceptually
> separate pass, it's integrated right into the compiler in a clean way.
> [...]

The "scope resolution work" being done by the "compiler" is typically
done in the parsing phase.  Therefore, you seem to be saying that it's
better to integrate macro-expansion and parsing.  But we already know
that; it's a myth that the two can, in fact, be kept separate.

If you look at "the" Scheme macro system (as per the R4 appendix or
related documents), you will find that it is _impossible_ to perform
macro expansion as a pure pre-processing phase without embedding a
good deal of the parser into the expander.  This is independent of the
presence of hygiene.

'shriram