Talk:Extend your language
It sounds like the purpose of this task is to add flow-control mechanisms. It should be renamed as such, and the task description should be changed to remove language-specific elements. (Particular capabilities of languages should be demonstrated in their examples, not in the task description.) --Michael Mol 13:41, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- Not necessarily just flow-controls. 'if2' is just an easy to explain example. As mentioned in the task, in some languages all programming involves such extensions.
- Then I'm probably misunderstanding. The task seems too specific with language references, but too generic in its title. How can we improve this? (I'd love to see some more folks chime in, too.) --Michael Mol 13:56, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- "Extend your language" does seem a bit generic for the actually specified task -- especially if you take the view that all definitions of words are language extensions -- and I think a better name would be a good idea. But I do not have any ideas for a better name. --Rdm 18:25, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- "Create a keyword"? --Michael Mol 18:34, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- "Extend your language" does seem a bit generic for the actually specified task -- especially if you take the view that all definitions of words are language extensions -- and I think a better name would be a good idea. But I do not have any ideas for a better name. --Rdm 18:25, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- Then I'm probably misunderstanding. The task seems too specific with language references, but too generic in its title. How can we improve this? (I'd love to see some more folks chime in, too.) --Michael Mol 13:56, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- "Language extension without using macros"? Or: "Language syntax extension"? --Paddy3118 18:56, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- Is it even appropriate to disallow macros? Acknowledging them and asking that it be done with them and without them, for whichever approaches are possible, would strike me as a better approach; it allows on-page classification of which languages support which approach, while showing how to use either approach to accomplish a similar end. --Michael Mol 18:58, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- "Language extension without using macros"? Or: "Language syntax extension"? --Paddy3118 18:56, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- The task does not actually require new syntax -- for example, the TCL implementation uses the same syntax rules that all TCL implementations follow. (And, "macro" is itself a language-specific concept.) --Rdm 18:59, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- For a real example of syntax extension in Tcl, check out Window_creation/X11#Tcl which embeds C directly inside Tcl. Putting one (syntactically totally different) language inside another has got to be real extension, right? :-) However, the code to do it (as opposed to making use of it) is also rather longer than I normally put in an RC solution; that example uses an external library (and an external C compiler too, as it happens, plus weaving of the code back into Tcl). –Donal Fellows 07:41, 28 August 2010 (UTC)
- I wasn't sure, but I guess the concept of "macro" may vary between languages and should not be banned? --Paddy3118 19:03, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- I currently do not see any reason to ban any kind of "macros" for this task. And, on a task where it does make sense to ban macros, the undesirable features of macros should be carefully defined so that a person can avoid the undesirable features without also avoiding desirable language features. --Rdm 19:13, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- I hate wikitalk; I need a more convenient way to Upvote or Like points in debates like these. --Michael Mol 19:15, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- If you upvote or give like points, it's not a debate any more. --Ce 20:58, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- I hate wikitalk; I need a more convenient way to Upvote or Like points in debates like these. --Michael Mol 19:15, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- I currently do not see any reason to ban any kind of "macros" for this task. And, on a task where it does make sense to ban macros, the undesirable features of macros should be carefully defined so that a person can avoid the undesirable features without also avoiding desirable language features. --Rdm 19:13, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
- IMHO, "create a keyword" would not be optimal. In languages where those extensions are a natural programming style, the term "keyword" is seldom used. Also, "extending the language" then almost always involves flow control in some way, which needs not to be mentioned specifically.
- For example, the typical case of a domain specific language extension like a HTML library, where a syntax like (please allow me to stay with Lisp syntax) <lang PicoLisp>(
(<head> (build-the-header))
(
(get-some-text)) (
(make-table-header) (for X (foo) (<row> (row-data X)) ) ) )</lang> also involves flow control, but the central issue is structured output. Still I would call this a language extension. --Abu 09:48, 28 August 2010 (UTC)