From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Delivered-To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Received: from nez-perce.inria.fr (nez-perce.inria.fr [192.93.2.78]) by yquem.inria.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id 70608BC8B for ; Sun, 13 Feb 2005 23:51:27 +0100 (CET) Received: from rproxy.gmail.com (rproxy.gmail.com [64.233.170.203]) by nez-perce.inria.fr (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id j1DMpQeB004637 for ; Sun, 13 Feb 2005 23:51:27 +0100 Received: by rproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id g11so1024292rne for ; Sun, 13 Feb 2005 14:51:26 -0800 (PST) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:reply-to:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:references; b=UTND2obAbl9jKmn7TAgH4HYqOJqMAMRAeSA+uiYgPO0wgN4ESLy/WASrsauZotVVUsAV8mO1JOow7ZsNlixz+jaTTNJOg7l3+/YXkQE+m++qWotvtbbcMB0F0IGLtnzDKDVd7sHBT9xDeiRMhoyubjqX6+nfASfcq9pxpAK5SEo= Received: by 10.38.74.34 with SMTP id w34mr130823rna; Sun, 13 Feb 2005 14:51:26 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.38.86.80 with HTTP; Sun, 13 Feb 2005 14:51:26 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <877e9a1705021314512ff095b9@mail.gmail.com> Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2005 17:51:26 -0500 From: Michael Walter Reply-To: Michael Walter To: Thomas Fischbacher Subject: Re: [Caml-list] The boon of static type checking Cc: Daniel Heck , caml-list@yquem.inria.fr In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <877e9a17050206221653d14456@mail.gmail.com> <877e9a17050212145737cc30d6@mail.gmail.com> <200502131451.02231.edgin@slingshot.co.nz> <20050213112630.73930e19@hobbes> <877e9a1705021312525337a907@mail.gmail.com> X-Miltered: at nez-perce with ID 420FD9EE.000 by Joe's j-chkmail (http://j-chkmail.ensmp.fr)! X-Spam: no; 0.00; caml-list:01 wrote:01 wrote:01 o'caml:01 syntax:01 parser:01 syntax:01 attitude:98 faq:01 explicitly:01 lisp:01 lisp:01 checking:01 argument:01 physik:02 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.2 (2004-11-16) on yquem.inria.fr X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=RCVD_BY_IP autolearn=disabled version=3.0.2 X-Spam-Level: On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 22:42:29 +0100 (CET), Thomas Fischbacher wrote: > > On Sun, 13 Feb 2005, Michael Walter wrote: > > > Your argument regarding Lisp and O'caml ignores the fact that > > programming languages are to a large part about syntax - for obviously > > valid reasons like accessability, maintainability, expressiveness, > > etc. > > > > I feel I've mentioned that so many times it should be in some FAQ ;o) > > With a parser generator (take zebu, for example) and, say, > SET-DISPATCH-MACRO-CHARACTER, I just as well can give you any syntax you > want on top of lisp. But I think you understand if I don't post code > that explicitly demonstrates how to do that now. This has obvious restrictrions in Common Lisp (you even mentioned one of them in UPPERCASE-LETTERS :). The fact that few people actually extend the syntax of CL beyond mere S-expressions also indicates that (the usual counter goes like "we are happy with S-expressions", which I believe is not the entire story :). [1] I can imagine, though, that there might eventually be a language (or environment), which gets rid of some of those restrictions, which is one of the reasons why I've a.. more open attitude to new programming languages and environments :) [2,3] Michael [1] It works great for embedding XML into CL, though :-) http://blog.leetspeak.org/wp-content/xmlhack.png [2] e.g. Logix, see http://logix.livelogix.com/ [3] e.g. IP, see google & http://www.aisto.com/roeder/paper/IntentionalProgramming.ppt