Thank you for your comprehensive answer! It helps a lot. I also read more about Racket after I posted the question and now I think that the few special forms (as stated in "fully expanded program") are the core. All languages built in Racket will parse and convert their syntax into syntax objects (S-expressions) and then expand to these special forms. Am I right?
On Sunday, November 7, 2021 at 6:53:53 AM UTC+8 [email protected] wrote: > Hi Yushuo, > > On Sat, Nov 6, 2021 at 5:33 AM Yushuo Xiao <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I've learned some Racket, and can comfortably program in it, but I only >> learned it as an ordinary language, much like Scheme. I know Racket is much >> more than that, for its "language-oriented" features. Languages become a >> first-class member in Racket, and to my understanding, even "#lang racket" >> is just a language built on some core. What I want to know is, what's the >> very core of Racket? > > > It depends on where you stop measuring. You could argue that... > > ...#lang racket is the core, because it's what comes in the > installation. Things like gregor, struct-plus-plus, and csv-reading are > packages that you install from http://pkgs.racket-lang.org/ and are > therefore outside the core. > > ...#lang racket/base is the core, because it's the most limited set of > Racket that comes by default. It mostly consists of only the basic list > manipulation functions, and if you want to use other things then you need > to include relevant libraries such as racket/match (giving you the 'match' > special form) or racket/format (giving you the ~a function), or > racket-string (giving you the string-length function), etc. > > ...Raw lambdas and a few special forms are the core, because everything > compiles down to those. (Approximately speaking.) > > ...Lambda calculus is the core, because it's what all LISP descendants are > based on. > > Once you start talking about other Racket languages with different syntax > and semantics, well then all bets are off. > > > Does this help? > > >> I've noticed that in the Racket Reference there is a section "Fully >> Expanded Programs", which seems the very core of Racket. But it still takes >> an S-expression form, and apparently Racket allows language customization >> on the syntax level. I wonder if the S-expression language is the core of >> Racket, or the entire Racket has a different structure? >> >> I would really appreciate it if anyone could explain it in a simple way >> or could point out some good (and short) material for me to read. The >> Racket Reference is too long, and I believe the core Racket can be well >> explained in a much shorter piece of text, if I just look for a brief >> understanding. >> >> Also my question may be confusing, because I don't understand Racket well >> at all. Feel free to correct me or ask for clarification. Thanks in advance! >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Racket Users" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/racket-users/63b1134b-16e4-4447-828a-1e607013bd7cn%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/racket-users/63b1134b-16e4-4447-828a-1e607013bd7cn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Racket Users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/racket-users/6929457c-459f-4c25-94c0-ea973b121c65n%40googlegroups.com.
