Will it cause a slowdown because there is a better way to do it or will it 
cause a slowdown because something inherent about environment access? 
Because if the second is the case, then it would be worth it, at least to 
me.

On Thursday, July 23, 2015 at 11:13:14 AM UTC+8, Yichao Yu wrote:
>
> On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 10:51 PM, Brandon Taylor 
> <brandon....@gmail.com <javascript:>> wrote: 
> > Ok, made some progress. Still having trouble with a _ENV_ not defined 
> error: 
> > how could it not be defined if it's a global variable??? Figuring out 
> > argument passing is going to be tricky. Is this kind of system feasible 
> or 
> > is it going to cause huge slowdowns? 
>
> It'll cause a huge slowdown. 
>
> > 
> > using DataFrames 
> > 
> > import Base.convert 
> > 
> > _TYPES_ = Symbol[] 
> > 
> > type _LAZY_ 
> >   _E_::Expr 
> >   _ENV_::Symbol 
> > end 
> > 
> > # modify dicts such that if a key is not found, search the parent 
> > function Base.getindex{K,V}(h::Dict{K,V}, key) 
> >   index = Base.ht_keyindex(h, key) 
> >   if index < 0 
> >     if :_parent in keys(h) 
> >       Base.getindex(eval(h[:_parent]), key) 
> >     else 
> >       throw(KeyError(key)) 
> >     end 
> >   else 
> >     h.vals[index]::V 
> >   end 
> > end 
> > 
> > # allow inheritance from modules 
> > function convert(::Type{Dict}, m::Module) 
> >   dict = Dict() 
> >   for name in names(m) 
> >     dict[name] = eval( :(Base.$name) ) 
> >     # add types to type list 
> >     if typeof(dict[name]) <: DataType 
> >       push!(_TYPES_, name) 
> >     end 
> >   end 
> >   dict 
> > end 
> > 
> > # allow inheritance from DataFrames 
> > function convert(::Type{Dict}, d::DataFrame) 
> > dict = Dict() 
> >   for name in names(d) 
> >     dict[name] = d[name] 
> >     # add types to type list 
> >     if typeof(dict[name]) <: DataType 
> >       push!(_TYPES_, name) 
> >     end 
> >   end 
> >   dict 
> > end 
> > 
> > # establish the base environment, save it as global, and point it to an 
> > empty dictionary 
> > macro _ENV_MACRO_() 
> >   esc(quote 
> >     _ENV_ = gensym() 
> >     _GLOBAL_ = _ENV_ 
> >     eval(quote 
> >            $_ENV_ = Dict() 
> >          end) 
> >   end) 
> > end 
> > 
> > # establish a new environment and point it towards a dict daughter of 
> the 
> > old environment 
> > macro _NEW_ENV_MACRO_() 
> >   esc(quote 
> >     _NEW_ENV_ = gensym() 
> >     eval(quote 
> >            $_NEW_ENV_ = {:_parent => $(Expr(:quote, _ENV_)) } 
> >          end) 
> >     _ENV_ = _NEW_ENV_ 
> >       end) 
> > end 
> > 
> > # establish a new environment and point it towards a dict daughter of 
> the 
> > old environment with dict contents 
> > macro _ADD_ENV_MACRO_(dict) 
> >   esc(quote 
> >     _DICT_ = $dict 
> >     _ADD_ENV_ = gensym() 
> >     eval(quote 
> >            $_ADD_ENV_ = convert(Dict, $_DICT_) 
> >            $_ADD_ENV_[:_parent] = $(Expr(:quote, _ENV_)) 
> >          end) 
> >     _ENV_ = _ADD_ENV_ 
> >   end) 
> > end 
> > 
> > # jump back in time to the previous generation 
> > macro _REMOVE_ENV_MACRO_() 
> >   esc(quote 
> >     _ENV_ = eval(_ENV_)[:_parent] 
> >       end) 
> > end 
> > 
> > 
> > # new types will have to be included in a module at the beginning of 
> code 
> > # that module will need to be converted to a Dict along with base 
> > # a namespace will need to be created such that module dicts inherit 
> from 
> > each other, with base at the top 
> > 
> > @_ENV_MACRO_() 
> > @_ADD_ENV_MACRO_(Base) 
> > @_NEW_ENV_MACRO_ 
> > 
> > # test expression 
> > e = 
> >   quote 
> >     a = 1 
> >     b = 2 
> >     test = function() 
> >       b = a 
> >     end 
> >   end 
> > 
> > 
> > # reformat code to use dict scoping 
> > function _ENV_REPLACE_(_Lazy_::_LAZY_) 
> > 
> >   e = copy(_Lazy_._E_) 
> >   _ENV_ = _Lazy_._ENV_ 
> > 
> >   # expressions wrapped in _esc will be left alone 
> >   if length(e.args) > 0 
> >     if (e.head == :call) & (e.args[1] == :_esc) 
> >       return e.args[2] 
> >     end 
> >   end 
> > 
> >   # set a new scope for a new function. This will also have to be done 
> with 
> > for loops, modules, etc. 
> >   if (e.head == :function) 
> >     # insert a new scope definition into the function definition 
> >     e.args[2].args = [ 
> >       e.args[2].args[1], 
> >       :(@_NEW_ENV_MACRO_), 
> >       :(_ENV_REPLACE!_( 
> >           $(Expr(:block, 
> >                  e.args[2].args[2:end]...)))), 
> >       :(@_REMOVE_ENV_MACRO_)] 
> > 
> >   # ignore line numbers 
> >     elseif e.head != :line 
> >     # for each sentence 
> >     for i in 1:length(e.args) 
> >       # replace symbols with their dict scoped version 
> >       if typeof(e.args[i]) == Symbol 
> > 
> >         #avoid types 
> >         if !(e.args[i] in _TYPES_) 
> >           e.args[i] = :($_ENV_[$(string(e.args[i]))]) 
> >         end 
> > 
> >       # recur into new expressions 
> >       elseif typeof(e.args[i]) == Expr 
> >         e.args[i] = _ENV_REPLACE!_(e.args[i], _ENV_) 
> >       end 
> >     end 
> >   end 
> >   e 
> > end 
> > 
> > function _LAZY_(e::Expr) 
> >   _LAZY_(e, _ENV_) 
> > end 
> > 
> > macro _LAZY_EVAL_(_Lazy_) 
> >   esc(quote 
> >         eval(_ENV_REPLACE_($_Lazy_)) 
> >       end) 
> > end 
> > 
> > 
> > @_LAZY_EVAL_(_LAZY_(e)) 
> > 
> > eval(_ENV_)["a"] 
> > eval(_ENV_)["b"] 
> > eval(_ENV_)["test"]() ## ERROR HERE 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Wednesday, July 22, 2015 at 11:30:10 AM UTC+8, Brandon Taylor wrote: 
> >> 
> >> More to do: 
> >> Expressions would also have to be escaped from quoting. 
> >> If we can't scope types within dicts, it might be necessary to have 
> >> special markers for types so they can avoid being scoped. 
> >> I don't think that macros will be necessary anymore 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> On Wednesday, July 22, 2015 at 11:14:38 AM UTC+8, Brandon Taylor wrote: 
> >>> 
> >>> Ok so I've got a good start. I bet John Myles White didn't think I 
> could 
> >>> get this far. Anyway, I'm getting caught up in defining my own escape 
> >>> function. I'm getting lost in multiple layers of meta. 
> >>> 
> >>> using DataFrames 
> >>> 
> >>> import Base.convert 
> >>> 
> >>> # allow inheritance from modules 
> >>> function convert(::Type{Dict}, m::Module) 
> >>> dict = Dict() 
> >>>   for name in names(m) 
> >>>     dict[name] = eval( :(Base.$name) ) 
> >>>   end 
> >>>   dict 
> >>> end 
> >>> 
> >>> base_dict = convert(Dict, Base) 
> >>> 
> >>> # allow inheritance from DataFrames 
> >>> function convert(::Type{Dict}, d::DataFrame) 
> >>> dict = Dict() 
> >>>   for name in names(d) 
> >>>     dict[name] = d[name] 
> >>>   end 
> >>>   dict 
> >>> end 
> >>> 
> >>> # modify dicts such that if a key is not found, search the parent 
> >>> function Base.getindex{K,V}(h::Dict{K,V}, key) 
> >>>   index = Base.ht_keyindex(h, key) 
> >>>   if index < 0 
> >>>     if :_parent in keys(h) 
> >>>       Base.getindex(h[:_parent], key) 
> >>>     else 
> >>>       throw(KeyError(key)) 
> >>>     end 
> >>>   else 
> >>>     h.vals[index]::V 
> >>>   end 
> >>> end 
> >>> 
> >>> # test expression 
> >>> e = 
> >>>   quote 
> >>>     a = 1 
> >>>     # anonymous functions required for proper scoping 
> >>>     test = function() 
> >>>       b = a 
> >>>     end 
> >>>   end 
> >>> 
> >>> # set up the global environment 
> >>> _env = gensym() 
> >>> eval(:($_env = [:_parent => base_dict] ) ) 
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> #_new_env = _env 
> >>> # this is the code that needs to be escaped 
> >>> #eval(:($_new_env = [:_parent => eval(_env)] ) ) 
> >>> 
> >>> # reformat code to use dict scoping 
> >>> function env_replace!(e::Expr, 
> >>>                       _env::Symbol = _env) 
> >>> 
> >>>   # expressions wrapped in _esc will be left alone 
> >>>   if length(e.args) > 0 
> >>>     if (e.head == :call) & (e.args[1] == :_esc) 
> >>>       return e.args[2] 
> >>>     end 
> >>>   end 
> >>> 
> >>>   # set a new scope for a new function. This will also have to be done 
> >>> with for loops, modules, etc. 
> >>>   if (e.head == :function) 
> >>>     # insert a new scope definition into the function definition 
> >>>           _new_env = gensym() 
> >>>           e.args[2].args = [ 
> >>>             e.args[2].args[1], 
> >>>             :_esc(), #### need help here ### 
> >>>             e.args[2].args[2:end] ] 
> >>>           _env = _new_env 
> >>>         end 
> >>> 
> >>>   # ignore line numbers 
> >>>   if e.head != :line 
> >>> 
> >>>     for i in 1:length(e.args) 
> >>>       # replace symbols with their dict scoped version 
> >>>       if typeof(e.args[i]) == Symbol 
> >>>         e.args[i] = :($_env[$(string(e.args[i]))]) 
> >>> 
> >>>       # recur into new expressions 
> >>>       elseif typeof(e.args[i]) == Expr 
> >>>         e.args[i] = env_replace!(e.args[i], _env) 
> >>>       end 
> >>>     end 
> >>>   end 
> >>>   e 
> >>> end 
> >>> 
> >>> # here is an eval that allows evaluation within a certain dict scope 
> >>> function lazy_eval(e::Expr, 
> >>>                    _env::Symbol = _env) 
> >>>   eval(env_replace!(e), _env) 
> >>> end 
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> ## TO DO 
> >>> # fix _esc problem 
> >>> # prevent environment symbols from being scoped (perhaps with a 
> special 
> >>> marker) 
> >>> # rescope for, while, try, catch, finally, let, and type 
> >>> # perhaps use fast anonymous to avoid performance slowdowns? 
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 10:10:58 AM UTC+8, Brandon Taylor wrote: 
> >>>> 
> >>>> And there would need to be a special marker for them, such that if 
> I'm 
> >>>> in function f, f[:a] won't get preprocessed as f[:f][:a] 
> >>>> 
> >>>> On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 10:03:08 AM UTC+8, Brandon Taylor wrote: 
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> Although that would probably require nested dicts. Each would have a 
> >>>>> parent dict, and if a lookup isn't found in the current dict, the 
> parent 
> >>>>> dict would be searched. 
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 9:53:50 AM UTC+8, Brandon Taylor wrote: 
> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>> I should be possible to preprocess code such that everything is put 
> >>>>>> into a dict based on the name of enclosing function (and global 
> variables 
> >>>>>> will just go into a dict called global). 
> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>> On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 9:42:00 AM UTC+8, Brandon Taylor 
> wrote: 
> >>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>> Dicts seem to work pretty well for this kind of thing. 
> >>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>> On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 9:38:36 AM UTC+8, Brandon Taylor 
> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>> I'm getting a cannot assign variables in other modules error. 
> >>>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>> On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 6:39:44 AM UTC+8, Yichao Yu wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 6:35 PM, Brandon Taylor 
> >>>>>>>>> <brandon....@gmail.com> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> > Ok, a thought, Julia has an inbuilt idea of a module. Would it 
> be 
> >>>>>>>>> > possible 
> >>>>>>>>> > to hijack this functionality to provide pseudo-environments? 
> That 
> >>>>>>>>> > is, never 
> >>>>>>>>> > referring to anything that is not already in an explicit 
> module? 
> >>>>>>>>> > And also, 
> >>>>>>>>> > have a data-frame simply be a module? 
> >>>>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> I think this would in principle works. A module is basically 
> what 
> >>>>>>>>> global scope means so all the performance concern applies. 
> >>>>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> > 
> >>>>>>>>> > 
> >>>>>>>>> > On Friday, July 10, 2015 at 11:31:36 PM UTC+8, Brandon Taylor 
> >>>>>>>>> > wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >> 
> >>>>>>>>> >> I don't know if you came across the vignette? 
> >>>>>>>>> >> 
> >>>>>>>>> >> 
> http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/lazyeval/vignettes/lazyeval.html ? 
> >>>>>>>>> >> dplyr uses lazyeval extensively, see 
> >>>>>>>>> >> 
> http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/dplyr/vignettes/nse.html 
> >>>>>>>>> >> . The cool 
> >>>>>>>>> >> thing about being able to incorporate this kind of thing in 
> >>>>>>>>> >> Julia would be 
> >>>>>>>>> >> being able to use the self-reflection capabilities. 
> >>>>>>>>> >> 
> >>>>>>>>> >> On Friday, July 10, 2015 at 10:57:16 AM UTC-4, Cedric St-Jean 
> >>>>>>>>> >> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 10:35:30 PM UTC-4, Brandon 
> Taylor 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> To walk back in time, you could say something like: compile 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> this like 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> this was is in line 8. Or compile this like this was in 
> line 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> 5. It seems 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> like Julia already has some of this functionality in 
> macros. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> Internal 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> variables are compiled as if they were in local scope. But 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> escaped 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> expressions are compiled as if they were in global scope. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> Could you provide context or a real-world use? I've looked 
> at 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> the 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> lazyeval package, and I'm not entirely sure what it does. 
> Does 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> it provide 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> lazy evaluation for R? That's easy to achieve in Julia 
> (well, 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> sorta). 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> Instead of 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> d = determinant(matrix) 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> .... 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> u = 2 * d 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> you can write 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> d = ()->determinant(matrix) 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> .... 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> u = 2 * d() # determinant is evaluated on use, in the 
> context 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> where it 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> was originally defined 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> With macros this can turn into 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> d = lazy(determinant(matrix)) 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> which looks nicer (and also can avoid computing the 
> determinant 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> twice if 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> d() is called twice). 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> Cédric 
> >>>>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 9:11:05 PM UTC-4, Cedric 
> St-Jean 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 4:14:32 PM UTC-4, Brandon 
> Taylor 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> Ok, here's where I'm getting hung up. You said that the 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> compiler 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> figures out the creation/lifetime of all variables at 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> compile time. So does 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> that mean there's a list like: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> a maps to location 0 and exists from line 3 to line 9 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> b maps to location 1 and exists from line 7 to line 9 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> a maps to location 10 and exists from line 7 to 9? 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> and that to map variables to locations on any particular 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> line, the 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> compiler works its way up the list, 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> Yes, more or less. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> This is perhaps even more helpful than the environment. 
> The 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> environment is immediately and completely determinable at 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> any point in the 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> program. This could make it possible to walk back in time 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> even within the 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> same scope. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> Could you expand on what you're thinking of? 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> This kind of compile-time environment could conceivably be 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> exposed to 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> macros. Common Lisp had proposals along that line 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> (
> https://www.cs.cmu.edu/Groups/AI/html/cltl/clm/node102.html) 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> but as far as 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> I can tell, it was too complicated and not useful enough, 
> so 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> it was 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> axed/neutered at some point in the standardization 
> process. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> > Hadley Wickham's lazyeval package in R is pretty cool in 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> > that you can 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> > attach an environment to an expression, pass it in and 
> out 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> > of functions with 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> > various modifications, and then evaluate the expression 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> > within the original 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> > environment 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> I don't know about R, but to me that sounds entirely 
> doable 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> with 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> closures (and macros will give you a nice syntax for it) 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> On Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at 8:31:44 PM UTC-4, Yichao Yu 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Wed, Jul 8, 2015 at 8:23 PM, Yichao Yu 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> <yyc...@gmail.com> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > On Wed, Jul 8, 2015 at 7:48 PM, Brandon Taylor 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > <brandon....@gmail.com> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> Hmm, maybe I'm confused about compilation vs 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> interpretation. Let 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> me 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> rephrase. Regardless of a how or when statement is 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> evaluated, it 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> must have 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> access at least to its parent environments to 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> successfully resolve 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> a symbol. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> AFAIK, the only scope you can dynamically add variable 
> to 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> is the 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> global scope. (This can be done with the `global` 
> keyword 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> or `eval` 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> etc). The compiler figure out the creation/lifetime of 
> all 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> local 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> variables (at compile time). Therefore, to access a 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> variable in the 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> parent scope: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> 1. If it's a global, then it need a runtime 
> lookup/binding 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> (the 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> reason 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> global are slow) 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> 2. If it's in a parent non-global scope, the compiler 
> can 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> figure out 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> how to bind/access it at compile time and no extra 
> (lookup) 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> code at 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> runtime is necessary. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > A julia local variable is basically a variable in C. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > There's a 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > table 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > at compile time to map between symbols and stack slots 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > (or 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > whereever 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > they are stored) but such a map does not exist at 
> runtime 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > anymore 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > (except for debugging). 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> > 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> On Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at 7:34:09 PM UTC-4, 
> Brandon 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> Taylor 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> They must exist at runtime and at local scope. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> Evaluating a 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> symbol is 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> impossible without a pool of defined symbols in 
> various 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> scopes to 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> match it 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> to. Unless I'm missing something? 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> On Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at 7:26:27 PM UTC-4, 
> Jameson 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>> There are global symbol tables for static analysis 
> / 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>> reflection, 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>> but they 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>> do not exist at runtime or for the local scope. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>> On Wed, Jul 8, 2015 at 7:06 PM Brandon Taylor 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>> <brandon....@gmail.com> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> Surely environments already exist somewhere inside 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> Julia? How 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> else could 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> you keep track of scope? It would be simply a 
> matter 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> of 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> granting users 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> access to them. Symbol tables in a mutable 
> language 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> are by 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> default mutable. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> It would certainly be possible only give users 
> access 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> to 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> immutable 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> reifications (which could solve a bunch of 
> problems 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> as is). 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> However, it 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> seems natural to match mutable symbol tables with 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> mutable 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> reifications, and 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> immutable symbol tables with immutable 
> reifications. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> On Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at 6:50:03 PM UTC-4, 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> Brandon Taylor 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> I'm not sure I understand... 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> On Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at 6:24:37 PM UTC-4, 
> John 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> Myles 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> White wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Reified scope makes static analysis much too 
> hard. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Take any 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> criticism 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> of mutable state: they all apply to globally 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> mutable symbol 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> tables. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at 10:26:23 PM UTC+2, 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Milan 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Bouchet-Valat 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> wrote: 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Le mercredi 08 juillet 2015 à 13:20 -0700, 
> Brandon 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Taylor a 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> écrit : 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> > All functions. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Well, I don't know of any language which 
> doesn't 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> have 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> scoping 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> rules... 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Anyway, I didn't say scoping rules are 
> necessarily 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> confusing, I was 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> only referring to R formulas. But according to 
> the 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> examples 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> you 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> posted, 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> your question appears to be different. 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> 
> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> 
>

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