Open, extensible composition models
Ian Piumarta · 2011
Simple functional languages like LISP are useful for exploring novel semantics and composition mechanisms. That usefulness can be limited by the assumptions built into the evaluator about the structure of data and the meaning of expressions. These assumptions create difficulties when a program introduces a composition mechanism that differs substantially from the built-in mechanism of function application. We explore how an evaluator can be constructed to eliminate most built-in assumptions about meaning, and show how new composition mechanisms can be introduced easily and seamlessly into the language it evaluates.