Re: the difference between \def and \define

[Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>]

On 4/16/2013 12:11 PM, Marco Patzer wrote:
> On 2013–04–16 Thomas A. Schmitz wrote:
>
>> I'm not lobbying for define to have something similar, I just want
>> to point out that it would be in the spirit of convergence between
>> ConTeXt and Lua. It certainly isn't an urgent need, but having
>>
>> \define[one,two,three]
>>
>> wouldn't be absurd, now would it?
>
> Sorry, misunderstanding on my part. That one looks fine. I thought
> we're talking about translating the number to words, which wouldn't
> make any sense:
>
>    \define[3]\foo{#one, #two, #three}
>
> I still don't think it's necessary to use named parameters with
> \define. For modules most likely \def, \setvalue or texdefinition
> are being used and \define for in-document markup, wherefore
> numbered parameters are perfectly fine. The only thing that could be
> improved is a definition which doesn't interfere with \asciimode,
> but that's low priority and can easily be worked around.

It's also messy (in parsing):

\define[#one,#two]\test{#one#two}

there we have to collect and move the test backwards. Also, names 
defeats the use of the one number becoming multiple #'s so it then close to

\define\test[#one,#two]{#one#two}

which is nearly

\def\test[#one,#two]{#one#two}

apart from the checking, so i decided to provide this:

     \checked\def \whatevera#alpha#beta{#alpha + #beta}
     \checked\edef\whatevera#alpha#beta{#beta + #alpha}

     \unique \def \whateverb#alpha#beta{#alpha + #beta}
     \unique \edef\whateverb#alpha#beta{#beta + #alpha}

     \whatevera{1}{2}\par
     \whateverb{1}{2}\par

(can be used with \def \edef \xdef \gdef \udef \uedef \uxdef and \ugdef)

Hans

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