Comment by fuhsnn
9 hours ago
The recent #def #enddef proposal[1] would eliminate the need for backslashes to define readable macros, making this pattern much more pleasant, finger crossed for its inclusion in C2Y!
[1] https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n3531.txt
While long-def's might be nice, you can even back in ANSI C 89 get rid of the backslash pattern (or need to cc -E and run through GNU indent/whatever) by "flipping the script" and defining whole files "parameterized" by their macro environment like https://github.com/c-blake/bst or https://github.com/glouw/ctl/
Add a namespacing macro and you have a whole generics system, unlike that in TFA.
So, it might add more value to have the C std add an `#include "file.c" name1=val1 name2=val2` preprocessor syntax where name1, name2 would be on a "stack" and be popped after processing the file. This would let you do types/functions/whatever "generic modules" with manual instantiation which kind of fits with C (manual management of memory, bounds checking, etc.) but preprocessor-assisted "macro scoping" for nested generics. Perhaps an idea to play with in your slimcc fork?
I've been thinking of maybe doing CTL2 with this. Maybe if #def makes it in.
I think the #include extension could make vec_vec / vec_list / lst_str type nesting more natural/maybe more general, but maybe just my opinion. :-)
I guess ctags-type tools would need updating for the new possible definition location. Mostly someone needs to decide on a separation syntax for stuff like `name1(..)=expansion1 name2(..)=expansion2` for "in-line" cases. Compiler programs have had `cc -Dname(..)=expansion` or equivalents since the dawn of the language, but they actually get the OS/argv idea of separation from whatever CL args or Windows APIs or etc.
Anyway, might makes sense to first get experience with a slimcc/tinycc/gcc/clang cpp++ extension. ;-) Personally, these days I mostly just use Nim as a better C.
I really don't think the backslashes are that annoying? Seems unnecessary to complicate the spec with stuff like this.