Two things out of one mechanism. `_' as a type means "work it out from
the initializer", so (var n _ (strlen s)) stops needing size-t spelled
out; `type-of' hands a macro the type of an expression, so a macro can
dispatch on what it was handed rather than on what was declared. Both
read the same answers from two sides.
Algorithm W's core, intra-procedural, with the extensions C forces:
- an unknown type, since (include stdio.h) brings in names we never
parsed. Unification is consistency rather than equality, so
anything touching an unparsed declaration stops constraining
instead of rejecting a program that compiled yesterday;
- the usual arithmetic conversions, since `+' is not a function of
one type;
- checking mode for initializers, since #(0 0) has no type of its own
and takes one from its context. #(T : ...) is the way out of that.
What it wanted on the way:
- what type a *name* has, which neither the typedef nor the tag
database recorded. One table serves functions and variables, since
a function type already has a surface spelling;
- a scope chain, so a (var c int 9) inside a do ends with the block;
- form-type, keyed by cons cell, so one form has one type;
- macros expanded during the walk rather than before it, so type-of
is answered in the scope the macro was written in.
Closures take the same machinery: a receiver whose type comes from a
call, captures written (name expr) and typed from the expression, and
conversion from a bare function wherever a closure is expected.
type-match grew `_' on the pattern side, since (closure ((int)) int)
and (closure ((float)) int) were separate clauses for one case.
Lambdas rotted because there wasn't any test for them, and after
return type moved to the end, lambdas stayed assumning it in the
front. We fix this and add test program
sextest resolves #+ and #- itself -- it reads the program and prints
what survives to sexc -- so a flag spelling it does not recognise
decides which branch gets compiled
'#+' and '#-' introduce conditional compilation: the form that follows
is kept only when the feature expression is true, and otherwise is read
and thrown away. An expression is a feature name, or and / or / not
of them.
They are read time, not compile time.
Default features are the host's software-version, software-type and
machine-type as CHICKEN reports them, plus what --features flag adds.
