[ << ] | [ < ] | [ Up ] | [ > ] | [ >> ] | [Top] | [Contents] | [Index] | [ ? ] |
6.10.2.4 Further Information
For a formal definition of syntax-rules
and its pattern language, see
See Macros in Revised(5) Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme.
syntax-rules
macros are simple and clean, but do they have limitations.
They do not lend themselves to expressive error messages: patterns either match
or they don’t. Their ability to generate code is limited to template-driven
expansion; often one needs to define a number of helper macros to get real work
done. Sometimes one wants to introduce a binding into the lexical context of the
generated code; this is impossible with syntax-rules
. Relatedly, they
cannot programmatically generate identifiers.
The solution to all of these problems is to use syntax-case
if you need
its features. But if for some reason you’re stuck with syntax-rules
, you
might enjoy Joe Marshall’s
syntax-rules
Primer for the Merely Eccentric.
This document was generated on April 20, 2013 using texi2html 5.0.