Oliver

Oliver

As far as I can see, there are the following options for extending elixir with extensions or change the meaning of syntax:

The regular macros and the optional rules

So I can have my own macros with do-end blocks and rewrite any elixir code that is supplied within, like:

defmodule A do
  defmacro foo(do: block) do IO.inspect(block) end
end

defmodule B do
  import A
  foo do
     [1, 2, 3]
     x + y -> z
  end
end

So I’m allowed all elixir syntax in there and a few constructs like the -> but only within the typical limits how they are are used in elixir syntax itself. I could use the + and -> however to describe for example who syncs to whom or to describe a tree, do my own fancy flow control, etc.

It seems I cannot do:

defmodule B do
  import A
  foo do
    x -> y -> z
    1, 2, 3
    silly: :nilly
  end
end

So I cannot omit list brackets or use the -> more than once without line break or ; or have a keyword list while omitting brackets. (Please correct me if I’m missing something.)

So I could redefine to my heart’s content what elixir’s allowed constructs mean (or replace them arbitrarily) but not use its low-level primitives (comma lists without brackets, keyword lists without brackets, chaining the ->, etc). Do I understand it correctly?

[EDIT: I can see from examples I found since posting that I can get around some of these limitations by using the optional rules and faking a function call, so I could do this at least:

defmodule B do
  import A
  foo do
    something 1, 2, 3
    other silly: :nilly
  end
end

Because then the optional rules at least apply.]

Sigils

Anything in a sigil can pretty much be anything. I get a string and also what follows after the ending delimiter, and I can parse it in any way I see fit and if I do so inside a macro, I can even write code to replace the sigil.

So I could do this:

defmodule A do
  defmacro sigil_p(_, _) do
     quote do
       def silly, do: IO.puts("silly")
     end
  end
end

defmodule B do
   import A
   ~p"doesn't matter"
end

B.silly

So any of the allowed sigils could be used to inject a DSL anywhere in elixir, and since it allows a variety of delimiters, the sigils could emulate elixir constructs like lists in syntax and yet have additional or different semantics.

So I see these two mechanisms - which are undoubtedly powerful and very useful - and wonder if there are other ways to do this without writing such DSLs into separate files and let elixir be simply the compiler that transforms them into usable code.

I mean, I have no problem packing my custom syntax into sigils, but if the same could be done within a do-end block that would even be nicer.

To make it clear, I’m not complaining. I’m looking for all options to allow me to have more of my own syntax for my own DSLs, and this is what I found. If you know more, please share. :slight_smile:

Thank you for any feedback!

Showing Posts 2 to 1

vfsoraki

vfsoraki

You’re totally right.

Macro is for when you can use Elixir’s syntax, but you want to (re-)define what’s the meaning of some (or all!) of operators/functions/arguments/…. . For example, ExUnit is a kind of DSL.

Sigils are bare strings, you parse it as you will. The most obvious example for me is Heex to embed HTML in Elixir files.

Maybe look at both of them to see how they work.

zachallaun

zachallaun

I think you have the gist of it! The issues you’re running up against with the do/end block is a limitation of the parser, which has to use its knowledge of Elixir syntax to construct an abstract syntax tree that obeys syntax precedence, associativity, etc.

— All posts loaded —

Where Next? Top

Trending in Questions Top

RSP87
I’m working on a project that simulates the bumbl example in the programming phoenix book. It acts almost like an email client. We have a...
New
kszambelanczyk
Hello! Could someone please give me a help/sample code, how to delete a file from s3 using waffle/waffle_ecto from Phoenix app. I creat...
New
RemyXRenard
I’m seeing that a list inside a Kino.DataTable will be interpreted as a charlist, even if the Kino.configure() is set to charlists: :as_l...
New
velrest
So my question is quite simple and i have found no conclusive answer on forum, google or AI. Should we use :erlang.float for Integer to ...
New
samoloth
Hi, I’ve just set up an application with ash_authentication. There is only magic link strategy for now, so there is no confirmation add o...
New
FlyingNoodle
If a change or preparation module uses Ash.Changeset.get_argument/2 or Ash.Query.get_argument/2 (or any of the other get_argument functio...
New
nseaSeb
Hello, I know there is an approach for handling lists that allows for optimized traversal, but I can’t recall the specific method (somet...
New

Other Trending Topics Top

mudasobwa
I am happy to introduce the very α version of the new programming language compiled to BEAM. Welcome Cure. It has literally three kille...
New
marciok
Hi there! We created Gust: A task orchestrator inspired by Airflow. For those who have never heard about Aiflow, it’s a Python-based wor...
New
jimsynz
Beam Bots (or just BB for short) is a framework for building fault-tolerant robotics applications in Elixir using familiar OTP patterns. ...
New
Dmk
Xamal is a deployment tool for Elixir apps that deploys native releases to bare metal servers over SSH. It’s a port of GitHub - basecamp/...
New
Damirados
Hello everyone. After busy few months I am happy to announce v0.1.0 of Emerge & Solve. They are GUI (Emerge) and State management (S...
New
netoum
Corex is an accessible, unstyled UI component library for Phoenix that integrates Zag.js state machines using Vanilla JavaScript and Live...
New

We're in Beta

About us Mission Statement

Options

Thread Display Mode




Thread Preview

Skip Thread Previews