Remove flag syntax

[shawwn]

If we remove flag syntax, we can use Lumen's reader to read most other
dialects of Lisp: Emacs Lisp, Common Lisp, etc. This makes it easier
to implement a compiler backend for them.

The loss of expressive power seems minimal compared to the gain in
flexibility.

[sctb]

Hmmm. I'll let this one percolate.

[shawwn]

One benefit is that it frees : as a special character, the way that period currently is. So something like this could have special meaning: (get reader :read-string) In fact, I could update BIND so that it preserves the existing lumen semantics. That way you could still write (let ((:pos :len :string) (stream “foo”)) ...)

…

On Sat, Sep 15, 2018 at 3:24 PM Scott Bell ***@***.***> wrote: Hmmm. I'll let this one percolate. — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#192 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AADo8MWblrZI4thAfht2DeZKP-PZtUM3ks5ubWH8gaJpZM4WZYz9> .

[shawwn]

In fact, I could update BIND so that it preserves the existing lumen
semantics. That way you could still write

(let ((:pos :len :string) (stream “foo”))
  ...)

I think it's worth getting rid of flag syntax, but messing with BIND is a bad idea. It introduces confusion and makes calling syntax inconsistent with LET bindings.