I'm trying to write a define-let
macro in racket, which "saves" the header of a (let ((var value) ...) ...)
, namely just the (var value) ...
part, and allows re-using it later on.
The code below works as expected:
#lang racket
;; define-let allows saving the header part of a let, and re-use it later
(define-syntax (define-let stx1)
(syntax-case stx1 ()
[(_ name [var value] ...)
#`(define-syntax (name stx2)
(syntax-case stx2 ()
[(_ . body)
#`(let ([#,(datum->syntax stx2 'var) value] ...)
. body)]))]))
;; Save the header (let ([x "works]) ...) in the macro foo
(define-let foo [x "works"])
;; Use the header, should have the same semantics as:
;; (let ([x "BAD"])
;; (let ([x "works])
;; (displayln x))
(let ([x "BAD"])
(foo (displayln x))) ;; Displays "works".
The problem is that the macro breaks hygiene: as shown in the example below, the variable y
, declared in a define-let
which is produced by a macro, should be a new, uninterned symbol, due to hygiene, but it manages to leak out of the macro, and it is erroneously accessible in (displayln y)
.
;; In the following macro, hygiene should make y unavailable
(define-syntax (hygiene-test stx)
(syntax-case stx ()
[(_ name val)
#'(define-let name [y val])]))
;; Therefore, the y in the above macro shouldn't bind the y in (displayln y).
(hygiene-test bar "wrong")
(let ((y "okay"))
(bar (displayln y))) ;; But it displays "wrong".
How can I write the define-let
macro so that it behaves like in the first example, but also preserves hygiene when the identifier is generated by a macro, giving "okay"
in the second example?
Following the cue "syntax-parameter" from Chris, here is an one solution:
#lang racket
(require racket/stxparam
(for-syntax syntax/strip-context))
(define-syntax (define-let stx1)
(syntax-case stx1 ()
[(_ name [var expr] ...)
(with-syntax ([(value ...) (generate-temporaries #'(expr ...))])
#`(begin
(define-syntax-parameter var (syntax-rules ()))
...
(define value expr)
...
(define-syntax (name stx2)
(syntax-case stx2 ()
[(_ . body)
(with-syntax ([body (replace-context #'stx1 #'body)])
#'(syntax-parameterize ([var (syntax-id-rules () [_ value])] ...)
. body))]))))]))
(define-let foo [x "works"])
(let ([x "BAD"])
(foo (displayln x))) ; => works
(let ([x "BAD"])
(foo
(let ([x "still works"])
(displayln x)))) ; => still works
UPDATE
This solution passes the additional test in the comments. The new solution transfers the context of the body to the variables to be bound.
#lang racket
(require (for-syntax syntax/strip-context))
(define-syntax (define-let stx1)
(syntax-case stx1 ()
[(_ name [var expr] ...)
#`(begin
(define-syntax (name stx2)
(syntax-case stx2 ()
[(_ . body)
(with-syntax ([(var ...) (map (λ (v) (replace-context #'body v))
(syntax->list #'(var ...)))])
#'(let ([var expr] ...)
. body))])))]))
(define-let foo [x "works"])
(let ([x "BAD"])
(foo (displayln x))) ; => works
(let ([x "BAD"])
(foo
(let ([x "still works"])
(displayln x)))) ; => still works
(let ([z "cool"])
(foo (displayln z))) ; => cool