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2 points by almkglor 5865 days ago | link | parent

And if 'eval is an interpreter?

Come now, if you want real support for eval, you'll also need to include the compiler:

  (eval `(fn (x) ,@my-variable)) ;how will it build the function?
The alternative is to punt: if there's ever an 'eval, then add arc.arc completely, make 'eval an interpreter which somehow uses 'symeval to lookup globals (and execute global functions as compiled functions), and when it encounters a function, will build the function as an interpreted function (and obviously allow interpreted code to call compiled functions and vice versa).

Basically you create a virtual function:

  (def eval (e (o env))
    (if
      (caris e 'fn)
        (add-attachment
          'environment env
          (annotate 'virtual-function
            (cdr e)))
      ...))
  (defcall virtual-function (f . args)
    (with (env (get-attachment 'environment)
           (arglist . body) args)
      ; has to be nondestructive
      (zap add-args-to-environment env arglist args)
      (each e body
        (eval e env))))