Re: Dynamic variable binding

[Sebastian Tennant <sebyte@smolny.plus.com>]

> Quoth Keith Wright <kwright@keithdiane.us>:
>> From: Sebastian Tennant <sebyte@smolny.plus.com>
>>
>>  guile> (define-macro (definer var val)
>>           `(define ,var ,val))
>>  guile> (definer 'foo "bar")
>>  guile> foo
>>  ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
>>  ABORT: (unbound-variable)
>> 
>> No doubt this fails for the same reason this does:
>> 
>>  guile> (define 'foo "bar")
>>  guile> foo
>>  ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
>>  ABORT: (unbound-variable)
>> 
>> What exactly happens when you 'define' a symbol?

> I don't know what happens (in Guile), but I can tell
> you what _should_ happen.  (In my humble opinion as
> a demi-god of semantics.)

I'm trying to wrap my head around symbols, variables and names of
variables.  They seem to me to be three different things.

> (define 'foo "bar")
>
> There are several possibilities
>
> (1) error message in define
>   (1a) Rude: Thou fool! |quote| is not a variable
>   (1b) Polite: If you are sure you want to do that,
>        write out the quote, don't use apostrophe
>   (1c) Obscure: Bad variable in def_schkdt

To be really semantically accurate should we not say:

(1a) Thou irrepressible fool! |quote| cannot be the _name_ of a variable.
(1c) Obscure: Bad variable _name_ in def_schkdt.

> But you are asking the wrong question.  Ask not
> what happens when a symbol is defined, ask what
> you can do to make the macro define an unquoted
> variable.

Answer: Pass it an unquoted variable.

 (define-macro (definer var val)
   `(define ,var ,val))
 =>
 (definer foo "bar")
 =>
 foo
 => "bar"

 :)

Is that the answer you expected?

My semantic point is that the first argument to definer (above) is not a
symbol and it's not a variable (an unbound variable error would be
thrown if it was), so in the context of the first agument to define
there is a third data type; 'variable name'.

Sebastian