Re: Questions for a language designer

[Matt Hellige <address@hidden>]

[Stéphane Payrard <stef@payrard.net>]
> 
> The user would be free to use the concrete representation of his
> choice to edit the program but it would be saved in its abstract
> representation.  The program that would translate from abstract to
> concrete would be an highly configurable "unparser".  Using a
> correctly choosen abstract representation would make programs more
> future proof because a future unparser will be able to identify patterns
> and unparse them distinctively.
> 

I'm reminded of Microsoft and Charles Simonyi's Intentional Programming
project, which I believe they've discontinued... I've had trouble finding
a decent link, but here's a (sort of) up-to-date FAQ:
  http://www.omniscium.com/?page=IntentionalFaq

In any case, I recall reading that IP did many of the things you're
describing, as code is represented internally as a data structure, and
can be viewed and manipulated in a variety of ways (graphically, various
textual forms, and so on). I recall seeing some of the same examples
as well, like global ranaming (and name management in general)...

I wish I had better info about this...

Matt

-- 
Matt Hellige                  matt@immute.net
http://matt.immute.net