λ the ultimate showcase

λ the ultimate showcase

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hey,

Now that we have Unicode, let’s not put it to good use!

  (define-syntax λ
    (syntax-rules ()
      ((_ formals body ...)
       (lambda formals body ...))))

Should ‘boot-9.scm’ provide this macro?

Ludo’.

Re: λ the ultimate showcase

[Ludovic Courtès]

ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

> Now that we have Unicode, let’s not put it to good use!

Someone must have tampered with my message.  Of course, it should read
“let’s put it to good use”.

Ludo’.

Re: λ the ultimate showcase

[Neil Jerram]

ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

> Hey,
>
> Now that we have Unicode, let’s not put it to good use!
>
>   (define-syntax λ
>     (syntax-rules ()
>       ((_ formals body ...)
>        (lambda formals body ...))))

Can it be overridden?  Just in case someone writes an algorithm where
they'd really like to have λ as a variable?

(In other words, I guess, can define-syntax things in general be
overridden?)

> Should ‘boot-9.scm’ provide this macro?

If the answer to the above is Yes, definitely.

     Neil

Re: λ the ultimate showcase

[Ludovic Courtès]

Neil Jerram <neil@ossau.uklinux.net> writes:

> ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:
>
>> Hey,
>>
>> Now that we have Unicode, let’s not put it to good use!
>>
>>   (define-syntax λ
>>     (syntax-rules ()
>>       ((_ formals body ...)
>>        (lambda formals body ...))))
>
> Can it be overridden?

Yes.  In the end it boils down to ‘module-define!’.

> Just in case someone writes an algorithm where they'd really like to
> have λ as a variable?

One can always use ‘λ’ or ‘lambda’ as a local variable name:

  (let ((λ 2))
    (+ λ 3))

> If the answer to the above is Yes, definitely.

Cool, let’s do it!  :-)

(Then we’ll want “’” for ‘quote’, “‘” for ‘quasiquote’, etc. etc.)

Thanks,
Ludo’.