Adapting Scheme-Like Macros to a C-Like Language

Kevin Atkinson and Matthew Flatt {kevina, mflatt}@cs.utah.edu
University of Utah, School of Computing

Abstract

ZL is a C++-compatible language in which high-level constructs, such as classes, are defined using macros over a C-like core. ZL's parser and macro expander are similar to that of Scheme. Unlike Scheme, however, ZL must deal with C's richer syntax. Specifically, support for context-sensitive parsing and multiple syntactic categories (expressions, statements, types, etc.) leads to novel strategies for parsing and macro expansion. In this paper we describe ZL's approach to parsing and macros.

Appeared in the annual Workshop on Scheme and Functional Programming, Portland, Oregon, October 2011.

The slides from the Scheme '11 presentation are also available.