diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'notes/records.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | notes/records.md | 54 |
1 files changed, 54 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/notes/records.md b/notes/records.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b93e0c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/notes/records.md @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +# Subtyping of record types + +It's a serious limitation of SRFI 9 that it doesn't allow creating +subtypes with additional fields. This is an invaluable strategy for +representing a hierarchy of types, which are ubiquitious in real life +and thus in programming. + +Sadly, this brings with it some significant complications if records +are to be initialized with default values to ensure invariants. The +R6RS solves this with an incredibly sophisticated system, which we +might need to adopt. (Search for "protocol" and "record-constructor +descriptor" in the R6RS.) + +However, we may be able to get away with a simpler approach... + +UNDER CONSTRUCTION + +Are constructor protocols really that important? Consider that all we +can do is add additional fields in the subtype. What if we separated +allocation from initialization: + +```scheme +(define-record r1 + (parent #f) + (fields a b)) + +(define (init-r1! r a b) + (set-r1-a! a) + (set-r1-b! b)) + + +(define-record r2 + (parent r1) + (fields c d)) + +(define (init-r2! r a b c d) + (init-r1! r a b) + (set-r2-c! c) + (set-r2-d! d)) + + +(define-record r3 + (parent r2) + (fields e f)) + +(define (init-r3! r a b c d e f) + (init-r2! r a b c d) + (set-r3-e! e) + (set-r3-f! f)) + + +(define r (make-r3)) +(init-r3! r 1 2 3 4 5 6) +``` |
