[Python-Dev] A Hygienic Macro System in Python?

[David Ascher]

Daniel Mahler:

> Consider a html printer macro library:
> 
> html:
>     header:
>         title:
>             print "blah"
>     body:
>         h1:
>             print "bleh"
>         p:
>             print "foo"
>             a (href="http://bar.org"):
>                 print "bar"
>             print "baz"
> 

funny.  That's not too far from code that I write in Quixote w/ some
extra functions:


template page(request):
	header(title("blah"))
	body(hl("bleh"),
             p(("foo", 
                a(href="...","bar")),
             "baz"
             )

note that template is the Quixote part, which removes the need for
unsightly prints =)

My vote on the notion is that I want to know what good macros people
would write, and then implement them in a non-macro fashion.  The lock
or connection examples to me indicate a possible language addition which
boils down to something nice and essential (in the meaning of 'of the
essence').  Macros in their generality scare me.

--david