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2 points by rocketnia 5031 days ago | link | parent

I'm not sure if this makes the code any more readable, but, you know... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_three_(programming)

  ; Short for "if both or neither and," 'ibona checks 'x and 'y against
  ; 'test (which is sent through 'testify). If one is truthy and the
  ; other is falsy, this results in nil. If they're both falsy, this
  ; results in an 'and of the 'ifneither and 'eitherway expressions. If
  ; they're both truthy, this results in an 'and of the 'eitherway
  ; expressions if they exist, and it propagates the result of calling
  ; the test on 'y if they don't.
  (mac ibona (test x y ifneither . eitherway)
    `(fn-ibona ,test ,x ,y
       (fn () ,ifneither)
       ,(when eitherway `(fn () (and ,@eitherway))))))
  
  (def fn-ibona (test x y ifneither (o eitherway))
    (zap testify test)
    (if do.test.x  (aand do.test.y
                         (if eitherway (do.eitherway) it))
        do.test.y  (aand (ifneither)
                         (if eitherway (do.eitherway) it))))
  
  (def congruent (x y)
    (ibona atom x y
      (and (congruent car.x car.y)
           (congruent cdr.x cdr.y))))
  
  (def congruent-sigs (x y)
    (ibona atom x y
      (ibona optional car.x car.y
        (congruent-sigs car.x car.y)
        (congruent-sigs cdr.x cdr.y))))
I've found myself doing...

  (if atom.x  atom.y
      atom.y  nil
              ...)
...a couple of times myself, so I wouldn't be surprised if (some variation of) 'ibona were surprisingly useful. :-p

EDIT: Hmm, this doesn't abbreviate as much, but its implementation and description are much more concise.

  ; This is similar to 'whenlet, but for binary if-and-only-if (i.e.
  ; xnor).
  (mac xnor2let (var x y . body)
    `(fn-xnor2let ,x ,y (fn (,var) ,@body)))
  (def fn-xnor2let (x y body)
    (only.body:.y:if x idfn no))
  
  (def congruent (x y)
    (xnor2let it atom.x atom.y
      (or it
          (and (congruent car.x car.y)
               (congruent cdr.x cdr.y)))))
  
  (def congruent-sigs (x y)
    (xnor2let it atom.x atom.y
      (or it
          (xnor2let it (optional car.x) (optional car.y)
            (and (or it (congruent-sigs car.x car.y))
                 (congruent-sigs cdr.x cdr.y))))))


3 points by fallintothis 5031 days ago | link

Hmm, interesting. If I were opting for another control structure (which I probably wouldn't in this case, but hypothetically), I think I'd make your ibona closer to this (not tested):

  (mac unless-both (test x y neither)
    (w/uniq (f fx fy)
      `(withs (,f (testify ,test) ,fx (,f ,x) ,fy (,f ,y))
         (or (and ,fx ,fy)
             (and (no ,fx)
                  (no ,fy)
                  ,neither)))))

  (def congruent (x y)
    (unless-both atom x y
      (and (congruent (car x) (car y))
           (congruent (cdr x) (cdr y)))))

  (def congruent-sigs (x y)
    (unless-both atom x y
      (and (unless-both optional (car x) (car y)
             (congruent-sigs (car x) (car y)))
           (congruent-sigs (cdr x) (cdr y)))))
I'm not sure if there's a better name than unless-both. Also, you could conceivably make neither a rest arg and just splice it into the and so you don't have to do (unless-both atom x y (and ...)). I just think it reads better with the explicit and. (Of course, adding a macro here is probably overkill anyway. Fun, though!)

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2 points by rocketnia 5031 days ago | link

Hmm... my code originally looked a lot like that (except for naming and the implementation of 'unless-both). Then I edited my post quite a bit because I thought there was a problem with the (and (unless-both ...) (congruent-sigs ...)) expression. (I can't remember what it was now, and I think I was mistaken.)

So I added the 'either-way parameter, and then I moved the logic into a function to make the evaluation order more to my liking--no calling the test on 'x before 'y is evaluated--and it got to the complicated state it's in now. In fact, I see some bugs now; the place where it says "do.test.y (aand (ifneither)" should be "do.test.y nil (aand (do.ifneither)".

For whatever it's worth, here's 'ibona again, with your much better name, and without 'eitherway. The only thing that's really different from your version is the argument evaluation timing.

  (mac unless-both (test x y ifneither)
    `(fn-unless-both ,test ,x ,y (fn () ,ifneither)))
  
  (def fn-unless-both (test x y ifneither)
    (zap testify test)
    (if do.test.x  do.test.y
        do.test.y  nil
                   (do.ifneither)))
Thanks for your insight. ^_^

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