[Python-3000] Another way to understand static metaprogramming in functional languages (original) (raw)

Talin talin at acm.org
Wed May 2 05:38:31 CEST 2007


Guido was complaining to me today, something along the lines that every time someone presents him with an example of Haskell code, his eyes start glazing over. I have pretty much the same problem, even though I've actually taken the time to read a little bit about Haskell.

If you are someone who is interested in how the magic of static metaprogramming in functional languages can work, but find Haskell code hard to read, then I strongly recommend Graydon Hoare's "One Day Compilers" presentation:

http://www.venge.net/graydon/talks/mkc/html/mgp00001.html

This is a slideshow that shows how to build a simple compiler in one day in OCAML. The slideshow is easy to read, and covers a brief introduction to OCAML (which is similar to Haskell in spirit) as well as details of how to construct the compiler. There's lots of stuff in there on how to use manipulation of types to get things done fast.

-- Talin



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