frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Extending a Language – Writing Powerful Macros in Scheme

https://mnieper.github.io/scheme-macros/README.html
92•textread•1y ago

Comments

neilv•1y ago
A few formatting changes might make this advanced example easier to understand:

    (define-syntax trace-let
      (syntax-rules ()
        [(trace-let name ([var expr] ...) body1 ... body2)
         (let f ([depth 0] [var expr] ...)
           (define name
             (lambda (var ...)
               (f (+ depth 1) var ...)))
           (indent depth)
           (display "(")
           (display 'name)
           (begin
             (display " ")
             (display var))
           ...
           (display ")")
           (newline)
           (call-with-values
               (lambda ()
                 body1 ... body2)
             (lambda val*
               (indent depth)
               (fold-left
                (lambda (sep val)
                  (display sep)
                  (display val)
                  " ")
                "" val*)
               (newline)
               (apply values val*))))]))
The biggest one is to make the rule template pattern variables all-uppercase. I also made a few other tweaks, including using indentation a little more, and naming the named-`let` variable as "loop" (I usually name it `loop` or prefix the name with `loop-` if there's more than one):

    (define-syntax trace-let
      (syntax-rules ()
        ((trace-let NAME ((VAR EXPR) ...) BODY1 ... BODY2)
         (let loop ((depth 0)
                    (VAR   EXPR) ...)
           (define NAME
             (lambda (VAR ...)
               (loop (+ depth 1) VAR ...)))
           (indent depth)
           (display "(")
           (display (quote NAME))
           (begin (display " ")
                  (display VAR)) ...
           (display ")")
           (newline)
           (call-with-values (lambda ()
                               BODY1 ... BODY2)
             (lambda val*
               (indent depth)
               (fold-left (lambda (sep val)
                            (display sep)
                            (display val)
                            " ")
                          ""
                          val*)
               (newline)
               (apply values val*)))))))
Incidentally, all-uppercase Scheme pattern variables is one of the all-time best uses of all-uppercase in any language. Second only to all-uppercase for the C preprocessor, where a preprocessor macro can introduce almost arbitrary text. Using all-uppercase for constants in some language that has constants, however, is an abomination.

(My suspicion of why Java did all-caps is that they were developing a language for embedded systems developers who were currently using C and C++, and they wanted to make it superficially look similar, even though it was an entirely different language. And then, ironically, the language ended up being used mostly by the analogue of a very different developer of the time: corporate internal information systems developers, who, as a field, didn't use anything like C. It's too late to save Java, but to all other language and API developers, please stop the insanity of all-caps constants, enum values, etc. It's not the most important thing that needs to jump out from the code above all other things.)

Y_Y•1y ago
FWIW, all-caps makes this look much worse to me. I understand that people like things like Hungarian notation, arrows over vector names, and shouting Common Lisp symbols. I understand the argument that it can make reading easier. I just can't appreciate that benefit, and it seems to me an ugly hack which obscures the abstract and general symbolic manipulation going on.

This is all highly subjective of course, de gustibus non disputandem.

neilv•1y ago
You mean aesthetically, in that interspersed all-caps makes the code visually less soothingly sensual?

I can sympathize, but let me make a non-aesthetic argument...

In large blocks of code, with all-caps, you can see at a glance where all the template substitutions are happening, and also instantly know as you're reading code what are variables and what are template substitutions?

I'm asking because one of my realizations in recent years is that not everyone reads or sees code the same way.

For example, maybe some people are stronger "visual" and some people are stronger "verbal".

For another example of a different in how people perceive and think, some people can visualize an object in their mind almost as if they're looking at it, but other people can only know and describe what it looks like without bringing a visual of it into their head.

With the benefit of the all-caps, I can glance at this and immediately see much of the structure of the template. Without all-caps, I'd have to work harder to find all the pattern variables, and the structure would be obscured.

For a bit kludgy practical matter, as I'm quickly looking at pieces of code in a template, with all-caps, I can look at a fragment of code in isolation and know what are and aren't pattern variables. Without that, I have to go read the top of the template clause (and read through any syntactic scopes of `let-syntax`) and get that in my head, until I get to the fragment of code I originally wanted to look at.

IDE support can make this unnecessary, with a hypothetical great IDE, with familiar syntax coloring. But still, if there is one thing that all-caps should be reserved for, it's something like this.

With all-caps, your code can be sensual, and the jolting all-caps bits are look out, potentially arbitrary code gets pasted into here.

mnemenaut•1y ago
https://github.com/rogerturner/scheme-macros/blob/main/examp... shows stepwise development of a trace-let [the `(example: (fn arg) => result)` forms are tests - see check-examples library]
Y_Y
•
1y ago
Since you asked, my objection is both aesthetic and semantic, though I was really referring to the semantic part above.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with this visual vs. verbal distinction.

I can add a few clarifying details. I don't use IDEs as much as basic text editors maybe with highlighting, and I try not to rely on any fancy features. It does worry me that the allcaps use you describe is (afaik) not known to the editor or interpreter, so if you make a mistake or the symbol gets out of sync with its meaning (re: pattern variables) you may have a false signal. Finally I'll say that in the end I can't suggest a good way to treat these special variables, and so maybe I don't get it, or tastes like mine would be better served by a different formalism for macros.

Qwen 3.8 27B is excellent, but it defaults to overthinking things

https://simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/16/qwen-38-27b/
286•bilsbie•6h ago•121 comments

The Life and Death of Direct File [pdf]

https://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/vinton_report_5.pdf
161•ronbenton•6h ago•69 comments

AGI-64 Brings Sierra Adventures to the Commodore 64

https://meanhamster.com/news/agi-64-brings-sierra-adventures-to-the-commodore-64
57•erickhill•4h ago•8 comments

A third world engineer responds to “RISC-V: They should have known better”

https://rvembedded.com/blog_post/12/
447•Narishma•13h ago•233 comments

Claude: System Prompts

https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/release-notes/system-prompts
613•tosh•17h ago•248 comments

Reticulum – Decentralized Mesh Network

https://reticulum.network/
78•sudo_cowsay•6h ago•17 comments

Rhombus 1.1 is now available

https://blog.racket-lang.org/2026/08/rhombus-v1.1.html
52•spdegabrielle•5h ago•18 comments

Low-Tech Ceramic Water Filter

https://wiki.lowtechlab.org/wiki/Filtre_%C3%A0_eau_c%C3%A9ramique/en
151•Bluestein•5d ago•38 comments

Applying a photosynthetic process to treat “dry eye”

https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/taking-tip-plants-eyes
35•gumby•5h ago•2 comments

Interview with Amit Patel, Creator of “Solar Realms Elite” (2013)

https://breakintochat.com/blog/2013/02/18/amit-patel-creator-of-solar-realms-elite/
45•bananaboy•1w ago•9 comments

How do I permanently disable random Google Photos popup to backup photos? (2024)

https://support.google.com/photos/thread/256212140/how-do-i-permanently-disable-google-photos-pop...
76•dt3ft•3d ago•39 comments

SIMD in the 90s: Programming Intel's Pentium MMX

https://pikuma.com/blog/programming-intel-pentium-mmx-simd
104•ibobev•3d ago•42 comments

Strong gravitational lensing and microlensing of supernovae (2024)

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/644cad8a-6c9b-4b02-bcf3-b8b6e8c614c5
8•andsoitis•3h ago•0 comments

Dancing with friends and enemies: boids' swarm intelligence (2012)

https://community.wolfram.com/groups/-/m/t/122095
38•surprisetalk•5d ago•3 comments

$12B of US ratepayers' money wasted on a modeling mistake in PJM

https://newsletter.semianalysis.com/p/12b-of-us-ratepayers-money-wasted
12•_delirium•1h ago•2 comments

The AI Credit Resale Economy

https://vectoral.com/blog/who-are-the-token-brokers
264•mlenhard•15h ago•108 comments

Show HN: Vocal Slice – Cut audio by selecting text, fully on-device

https://vocalslice.com/
11•terranivium•6d ago•5 comments

Design 3D-printable parts by talking

https://nurb.dev/
3•mkmk•2d ago•0 comments

MathCode, Mathematical Coding Agent

https://math-ai-org.github.io/mathcode/
83•homarp•12h ago•26 comments

Protobuf has LSP support. You're welcome

https://buf.build/blog/protobuf-lsp
138•theanonymousone•11h ago•91 comments

Stripe will reportedly acquire OpenRouter for $7B+

https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/16/stripe-will-reportedly-acquire-ai-gateway-startup-openrouter-fo...
284•zacharyozer•10h ago•194 comments

Red queen hypothesis – A new way forward for self-improving AI

https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/news/red-queen-hypothesis-new-way-forward-self-improving-ai
38•hardlianotion•10h ago•5 comments

Prolly: A content-addressed ordered map built on prolly trees

https://github.com/crabbuild/prolly
24•forhappy•5h ago•0 comments

Plastic mechanical computer from 1963: The Digi-Comp 1 [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y8bGBE71yw
62•tobr•1d ago•16 comments

Clamiga: Common Lisp for the Amiga

https://nnamgreb.de/blog/Clamiga+-+Common+Lisp+for+the+Amiga
104•emptybits•4d ago•13 comments

Nvidia dramatically reduces amount of OpenAI infra financing it may guarantee

https://www.reuters.com/business/nvidia-scales-back-250-billion-openai-data-center-guarantee-wsj-...
184•root-parent•9h ago•84 comments

Anton Chekhov played at love most of his life

https://commonreader.wustl.edu/winning-and-losing-at-the-great-game-of-intimacy/
83•lermontov•2d ago•22 comments

Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/block-ads-firefox-ios
617•pentagrama•17h ago•251 comments

St Lucie Nuclear Reactor Unit 1 manually shutdown, 3 control rods drop into core

https://www.wptv.com/news/treasure-coast/region-st-lucie-county/saint-lucie-nuclear-power-plant-u...
182•toomuchtodo•15h ago•133 comments

Tell HN: Cloudflare silently injects its analytics when you switch nameservers

402•stagas•12h ago•106 comments