[NTG-context] Re: defining macros

[Hans Hagen via ntg-context <ntg-context@ntg.nl>]

On 1/11/2025 10:21 AM, Henning Hraban Ramm wrote:
> Am 11.01.25 um 00:19 schrieb Hans Hagen:
>>> Yes, of course, but I’m often surprised by funny characters like #:
>>
>> Well, there are reasons: It has to fit in the #1 .. #9 approach because
>> these things are stored into tokens, so single character. Then one has 
>> to decide on what characters. There's also a performance issue because 
>> we don't want to sacrifice too much and these preamble tokens are 
>> "parsed" every time a macro is called so they better can be efficient.
>>
>> In the end only a few users (mostly developers) will see the obscure 
>> ones (and understand why some are there). The \optional prefix enables 
>> these extensions. It's a bit like: I want to grab arguments with 
>> mandate {} and there is something so let's look it up. Or, I bet that 
>> one can grab \par's so lets the manual for that.
> 
> Thank you for the explanation!
> I guess you meant \tolerant instead of \optional?

yes, (i sometimes localy uise that as aliasm, sorry) .. consider that 
you just past the examn

>> Did you know that we can have #A..#E as well. So 15 parameters instead 
>> of 9? I still need to use that more (deep down).
> 
> That I knew. At least in mkvi/mklx mode.
> If I use even 4 params I lose count of them.
> 
>> Don't worry, you don't want to know what I forget.

\tolerant\def\MyMacro[#1]#:#2%
   {\parameterdef\ikeepforgettingone1
    \parameterdef\ikeepforgettingtwo2
    \ifparameter#1\or % maybe here too
      (\ikeepforgettingone)
    \fi
    /\ikeepforgettingtwo/}

\MyMacro[one]{two}

\MyMacro{two}

seems that i also need to let \ifparameter handle these defs ... so now 
you contributed to development (and i can delegate documentation of low 
levels to you)

> Sure.
> I’m proud to have found several features that you forgot about ;)

ah, so you now make a nice certificate that you can put behind you when 
we chat

>>> I’m not competent enough to rewrite e.g.
>>> https://wiki.contextgarden.net/System_Macros/Handling_Arguments
>>
>>> Sigh.
>>
>> So you haven't reached Wolfgang level yet, and by the time you have, 
>> he bumped the scale up again, so don't sigh too much ... won't help, 
>> actually your upcoming manual will cover plenty, so more of a hurray.
> 
> I’m always aiming for the stars. ;)
> But my manual can’t be better than me, and I want it to be up to date 
> and helpful – mostly for myself ;-P
> 
> Yes, I need to read the lowlevel manuals. But after taxes… (Also sigh.)
> 
> Hraban
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