https://github.com/apg/surd

an absurd lisp interpreter
https://github.com/apg/surd

Last synced: 2 months ago
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an absurd lisp interpreter

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/apg/surd
• Owner: apg
• Created: 2012-03-03T17:15:16.000Z (almost 13 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2024-04-03T07:13:11.000Z (10 months ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-05-14T00:26:47.539Z (9 months ago)
• Language: C
• Homepage:
• Size: 78.1 KB
• Stars: 1
• Watchers: 3
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

Awesome Lists containing this project

• AwesomeInterpreter - surd

README

        
Surd - An absurd Lisp interpreter

---------------------------------

This really doesn't do much but serve as an example of constructing a

very basic Lisp interpreter in C. It may, in the future serve as the 

basis for a larger project, but currently is absurd.

It supports abstraction, lists, symbols and fixnums. It does support

top level definitions with the `def` keyword, but at the moment doesn't

support "fancy forms" such as `let` and `letrec` nor does it support

macros. There's no first class `eval` or a way to report the current

lexical environment. But, everything *is* built out of conses and

cells, including closures. Closures are tagged as such, but stored

using the same cell fields that a cons uses.

In other words:

    c = cell()

    c.type = CLOSURE

    c.car = CODE

    c.cdr = ENV

Where as a cons:

   

    c = cell()

    c.type = CONS

    c.car = CAR

    c.cdr = CDR

Of course you can evaluate expressions:

    $ ./surd 

    surd 0> (((fn (y) (fn (x) (+ x y))) 1) 2)

    result 0: 3

The Allocator / GC

==================

surd uses libgc for now, though it did at one point use the one-pass 

mark-sweep as described by Armstong and Virding in "One Pass

Real-Time Generational Mark-Sweep Garbage Collection (1995)"

([link](http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.42.7791))

To do

=====

1. Generational collection -- this should be easy

2. Box top level definitions so that they can be replaced

3. First class `read`, `write`, `eval`.

4. Implement let, letrec (might require a special rec form)

5. tail-call optimization.

6. Larger standard library implemented in surd.

7. hygienic defmacros and quasiquote, unquote, unquote-splicing

8. ...