retroforth/doc/html/chapters/techniques/quotes.html
crc e4a838d588 generate & include html documentation files
FossilOrigin-Name: 03f8a1f5293ceeb245b4e6315578c114c69eb4341027fad8eba5ec8c8dbca5fa
2021-01-21 12:40:28 +00:00

133 lines
5.5 KiB
HTML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
<title>.</title>
<style type="text/css">
* { color: #000; background: #fff; max-width: 700px; }
tt, pre { background: #dedede; color: #111; font-family: monospace;
white-space: pre; display: block; width: 100%; }
.indentedcode { margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; }
.codeblock {
background: #dedede; color: #111; font-family: monospace;
box-shadow: 0 4px 8px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 6px 20px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.19);
padding: 7px;
display: block;
}
.indentedlist { margin-left: 2em; color: #000; }
span { white-space: pre; }
.text { color: #000; white-space: pre; background: #dedede; }
.colon { color: #000; background: #dedede; }
.note { color: #000; background: #dedede; }
.str { color: #000; text-decoration: underline; background: #dedede; }
.num { color: #000; background: #dedede; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; }
.fnum { color: #000; font-weight: bold; background: #dedede; }
.ptr { color: #000; font-weight: bold; background: #dedede; }
.fetch { color: #000; font-style: italic; background: #dedede; }
.store { color: #000; font-style: italic; background: #dedede; }
.char { color: #000; background: #dedede; }
.inst { color: #000; background: #dedede; }
.defer { color: #000; background: #dedede; }
.imm { color: #000; font-weight: bold; background: #dedede; }
.prim { color: #000; font-weight: bolder; background: #dedede; }
.tt { white-space: pre; font-family: monospace; background: #dedede; }
.h1, .h2, .h3, .h4 { white-space: normal; }
.h1 { font-size: 125%; }
.h2 { font-size: 120%; }
.h3 { font-size: 115%; }
.h4 { font-size: 110%; }
.hr { display: block; height: 2px; background: #000000; }
</style>
</head><body>
<p><span class="h1">Quotations</span>
<br/><br/>
Quotes are anonymous functions. RETRO uses these as the basis for
executable flow control and combinatorial logic.
<br/><br/>
<span class="h2">Using Quotations</span>
<br/><br/>
To make a quotation, surround the code with square brackets. E.g.,
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;eq?&nbsp;[&nbsp;'No_match&nbsp;s:put&nbsp;nl&nbsp;]&nbsp;-if</tt>
<br/><br/>
Quotes can be nested:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>[&nbsp;#3&nbsp;[&nbsp;#4&nbsp;]&nbsp;dip&nbsp;]&nbsp;call</tt>
<br/><br/>
After creation, a pointer to the quotation is left on the stack
(or is compiled into the current definition).
<br/><br/>
<span class="h2">Combinators</span>
<br/><br/>
Words operating on quotations are called combinators; these are
discussed in <strong>Using Combinators</strong>.
<br/><br/>
<span class="h2">Implementation</span>
<br/><br/>
A quotation is compiled as:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>...&nbsp;code&nbsp;before&nbsp;quotation&nbsp;...</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>i&nbsp;liju....&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(if_compiling_only)</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>d&nbsp;address&nbsp;after&nbsp;quotation&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(if_compiling_only)</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>...&nbsp;code&nbsp;for&nbsp;quotation</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>i&nbsp;re......&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(this_is_where_the_quote_ends)</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>i&nbsp;li......</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>d&nbsp;address&nbsp;of&nbsp;code&nbsp;for&nbsp;quotation</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>...&nbsp;code&nbsp;after&nbsp;quotation&nbsp;....</tt>
<br/><br/>
<span class="h2">Other Notes</span>
<br/><br/>
Quotations are used heavily in RETRO. They give the source a
feel that's different from traditional Forth, and allow for
a more consistent syntax.
<br/><br/>
For instance, in a traditional Forth, you might have some
conditionals:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>IF&nbsp;...&nbsp;THEN</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>IF&nbsp;...&nbsp;ELSE&nbsp;...&nbsp;THEN</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>IF&nbsp;...&nbsp;EXIT&nbsp;THEN</tt>
<br/><br/>
RETRO uses conditional combinators for these:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>[&nbsp;...&nbsp;]&nbsp;if</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>[&nbsp;...&nbsp;]&nbsp;[&nbsp;...&nbsp;]&nbsp;choose</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>[&nbsp;...&nbsp;]&nbsp;if;</tt>
<br/><br/>
Or loops:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>FOR&nbsp;...&nbsp;NEXT</tt>
<br/><br/>
Is replaced by:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>[&nbsp;...&nbsp;]&nbsp;times</tt>
<br/><br/>
This can also extend to stack flow. Sequences like:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>&gt;R&nbsp;...&nbsp;&gt;R</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>DUP&nbsp;&gt;R&nbsp;...&nbsp;&gt;R</tt>
<br/><br/>
Become:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>[&nbsp;...&nbsp;]&nbsp;dip</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>[&nbsp;...&nbsp;]&nbsp;sip</tt>
<br/><br/>
And forms like:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>1&nbsp;2&nbsp;3&nbsp;*&nbsp;swap&nbsp;3&nbsp;*&nbsp;swap</tt>
<br/><br/>
Can be replaced with a combinator like:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;[&nbsp;#3&nbsp;*&nbsp;]&nbsp;bi@</tt>
<br/><br/>
While there is a different set of words to learn, I find that
overall there's less noise from low level stack shuffling words
and the added consistency with regards to overall syntax has
been nice as I was never fond of the multiple forms that existed
in traditional Forth.
</p>
</body></html>