[REBOL] Re: "a REBOL dialect is usually limited...
From: rebol-list2::seznam::cz at: 6-Nov-2002 0:41
Hello Gregg (and rebol-list),
I'm reading the IOS conference now and because this my reply will be
posted much more later, I'm using email not to lost the context....
on 5.11. you wrote:
---
RE: "a REBOL dialect is usually limited to REBOL words and block structure",
I disagree. You can use any words you want in your dialect, and I wouldn't
call a block structure "limited" but, rather, "ready for processing". :-)
This is my view, which may not be yours.
---
I have to disagree, because as I'm working probably on one of the
most complex (public?) dialects -> Rebol/Flash with something like
Rebol-ActionScript compiler, I've found myself limited in the use of
the 'load function - because I realy don't want to write string based
parser.
One example:
in ActionScript (ECMAScript) you can write:
myFunc(arg, someObject.someOtherFunction(random(100)))
To compile such a complicated code is not easy and the separator
would be very useful. But in Rebol I cannot use the comma in my
dialect file, because loading such a code throws an "Invalid word" error:
>>load {,}
** Syntax Error: Invalid word -- ,
** Near: (line 1) ,
The same problem is with emulating "left shift" function (<<)
>> load {<<}
** Syntax Error: Invalid tag -- <<
** Near: (line 1) <<
>> load {>>}
== >>
So as Allen wrote in the IOS conference, I would loved to work with
something like load/save where no error will be thrown and rebol will
convert it into strings, words or even an unknown! type. So I may work
with them in the parser.
Somone may say I may use another preprocessing using load/next to
catch these errors but I think that this is not the best solution (and I'm
sure that something like load/save wouldn't be so difficult to implement)
Cheers Oldes
