I seem to have misunderstood your question. Apologies. The cases will make it easier for me to not talk past you:
Case A is what I've been defending (and is currently how the port works). I don't have any direct examples of its usefulness, but think that it's semantically clearer (a point which I don't think I've made clear):
$ rlwrap mzscheme -m -f as.scm
Use (quit) to quit, (tl) to return here after an interrupt.
arc> (load "qq.arc")
nil
arc> (= tail '(b c d))
(b c d)
arc> `(a ,@tail)
(a b c d)
arc> (cons 'a tail)
(a b c d)
arc> (= tail 'b)
b
arc> `(a ,@tail)
(a . b)
arc> (cons 'a tail)
(a . b)
I also consider it an added bonus: dotted lists exist, so it seems presumptuous to think that macros might not stand to gain from using them, splicing into them, whatever. (Just as it seems presumptuous to think that ,,@(...) should be an error.)
Case B is incorrect, so far as I can tell. Indeed, the clisp code was very careful about this -- making sure not to pass the cdr of a dotted list as the first argument to 'append, for instance.
Case C is correct, I think, but would run against case A, since using 'join when the splice is not a list will result in an error, as in the examples I've belabored.
As an example, the above definition implies that
`((,a b) ,c ,@d)
will be interpreted as if it were
(append (list (append (list a) (list 'b) 'nil)) (list c) d 'nil)
but it could also be legitimately interpreted to mean any of the following.
(append (list (append (list a) (list 'b))) (list c) d)
(append (list (append (list a) '(b))) (list c) d)
(append (list (cons a '(b))) (list c) d)
(list* (cons a '(b)) c d)
(list* (cons a (list 'b)) c d)
(list* (cons a '(b)) c (copy-list d))
(There is no good reason why copy-list should be performed, but it is not prohibited.)
I just happen to like the idea, is all. And, admittedly, for wholly impractical reasons!
If I always only use ",@" with lists, does the current code (with optimization turned on or off) ever produce the wrong result if 'join is used instead of 'append? (It's OK if the answer is you wouldn't know without looking into the question further).
Sorry if I come off like that. I don't mean to seem like I'm trying to answer without knowing anything ("going from the gut" or whatever).
For what it's worth, I strongly think that, if unquote-splicing is used strictly with lists, 'join will do the same job as 'append.
Of course, I wouldn't know without looking into the question further. ;)
So, have I finally managed to address what you asked?
oh, were you hoping that the macro would be staticly scoped?
Not even that. I just wanted it to be done in a single sexp on the last unit test (since it's 1 sexp per test), as I note in the source:
"local" macros don't work in arc:
arc> (let a 12
(let b nil
(mac b ()
(let c 19
``(,a ,@',@(list c))))
(b)))
Error: "Function call on inappropriate object #3(tagged mac #<procedure: b>) ()"
Even using a 'do block doesn't work (for some reason):
arc> (do
(mac m ()
(let c 19
``(,a ,@',@(list c))))
(let a 12
(m)))
Error: "Function call on inappropriate object #3(tagged mac #<procedure: m>) ()"
arc> (do
(mac m ()
(let c 19
``(,a ,@',@(list c))))
(let a 12
(m)))
*** redefining m
(12 . 19)
Unsure whether this is an Arc bug, the problem was mitigated by using a (mac ...) outside of the 'do block.
So, have I finally managed to address what you asked?
Yup!
OK, here's what I think.
One principle of Arc is to find the minimum combination of code that implements the language. So we shouldn't end up with both a 'join and a 'append; either we decide we want 'join to be able to produce a dotted list, or else we should just use the old 'join.
One way of getting succinct code is not to implement features that no one uses. So if the only reason for using 'append (or extending 'join to be able to produce a dotted list) was to pendantically pass some Common Lisp unit tests, then I be inclined to go with case (A) and just use Arc's current 'join.
However, another principle of Arc is not to forbid things to programmers unless there's no way to provide them with logical consistency. I can't think of any reason to tell you not to use
arc> `(a ,@'b)
(a . b)
if you want to... so why should I advocate for restricting splicing to lists?
It's shorter than your append2/append, at the cost of not providing an explicit error message if a non-list is passed in some argument not the last.
I just wanted it to be done in a single sexp... Unsure whether this is an Arc bug
In Arc, the entire expression is macro expanded and compiled, and then evaluated. So in
arc> (do (mac a () 33)
(a))
Error: "Function call on inappropriate object #3(tagged mac #<procedure: a>) ()"
what's happening is that the 'mac form, when evaluated, will create a new global macro 'a. However, when the 'do form is being macro expanded / compiled, the 'a macro hasn't been defined yet. So "(a)" compiles into a function call on 'a. Then, when the 'do form is evaluated, 'a is set to be a macro, and then 'a is function called. Which produces an error, since a macro object isn't callable.
