mirror of https://github.com/texmacs/doc.git
63 lines
2.3 KiB
Tcl
63 lines
2.3 KiB
Tcl
<TeXmacs|1.0.5.2>
|
|
|
|
<style|tmdoc>
|
|
|
|
<\body>
|
|
<tmdoc-title|Why <TeXmacs> uses <value|scheme> as its extension language>
|
|
|
|
At a first glance, the choice of <value|scheme> as an extension language
|
|
for <TeXmacs> may seem a bit strange for people who are accustomed to more
|
|
conventional programming languages, such as <name|C++>, <name|Java>
|
|
or<nbsp><name|Python>. In particular, its heavy use of parenthesis
|
|
frightens more than one person.
|
|
|
|
Our choice of <value|scheme> has been motivated by the fact that the
|
|
language is highly flexible in several<nbsp>ways:
|
|
|
|
<\enumerate>
|
|
<item>It is easy to mix programs and data in a common framework.
|
|
|
|
<item>It is easy to customize the language itself, by adding new
|
|
programming constructs.
|
|
|
|
<item>It is easy to write programs on a very abstract level.
|
|
</enumerate>
|
|
|
|
The first two features are very particular important for extension
|
|
languages. Indeed, one major use of extension languages is to store data
|
|
for the application (like keyboard shortcuts and menus) in an intelligent
|
|
way. Furthermore, the application usually provides some very typical
|
|
features, which may need to be reflected at the level of the extension
|
|
language.
|
|
|
|
For the first two features, the simplicity of the parenthesized notation
|
|
used by <value|scheme> \ is also an advantage. Indeed, consider the
|
|
following fragment of the definition of the <menu|File> menu:
|
|
|
|
<\scheme-fragment>
|
|
(menu-bind file-menu
|
|
|
|
\ \ ("New" (new-buffer))
|
|
|
|
\ \ ("Load" (choose-file load-buffer "Load file" ""))
|
|
|
|
\ \ ("Save" (save-buffer))
|
|
|
|
\ \ ...)
|
|
</scheme-fragment>
|
|
|
|
The entries of the menu (the data) and the corresponding actions (the
|
|
programs) are very readable using the bracket notation. Similarly, when
|
|
defining a new language primitive, the systematic use of the bracket
|
|
notation relieves the user from the burden of making the corresponding
|
|
changes in the parser.
|
|
|
|
<tmdoc-copyright|2005|Joris van der Hoeven>
|
|
|
|
<tmdoc-license|Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
|
|
document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1
|
|
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
|
|
Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
|
|
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free
|
|
Documentation License".>
|
|
</body> |