[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> Throughout my explanations I try to remain true to the terminology
> introduced in the final release of the User's Guide (not the beta
> manual), the REBOL Dictionary and REBOL itself. Jeff like to point
> out that REBOL is its own meta-language.
>
The good folks at REBOL.com have posted publicly the second draft of
the "REBOL User's Guide 2.2.0" on their web site. They seem to regard
its terminology as reasonable enough to make it public. Therefore, I
feel free to use it -- without, of course, obligating anyone else to
do so.
Of course, draft two of the User's Manual is simply a snapshot of a
work in progress (as is version 2.2.0.3.1 of the interpreter!). As
soon as they make public an even more up-to-date replacement (of
either the manual or the interpreter!), I'll start using that
replacement.
>
> >1) At translation time the text which begins with (sans formatting)
>
> 1. At which point in time is "at translation time"?
>
> I take it that "at translation time" means:
>
> 1.1 the function has been completely entered in the REBOL console or
> a file is being evaluated using the REBOL function do.
> 1.2 REBOL does something, which transforms the text into some
> internal representation.
> 1.3 Then REBOL evaluates this internal representation as a step
> distinct from 1.2.
>
> "At translation time" would mean during 1.2. Something that happens
> before the evaluation begins. I wonder whether there is any
> evidence for there being a distinct step of translation. For all I
> know, REBOL's "internal representation" of what I enter in the
> console may just be a string containing the text I entered.
>
For more explanation of the idea of "translation", please see the
section called "Loading Data" at
http://www.rebol.com/manual/opeloading.html
That section is introduced by the statements:
REBOL expressions are put to work by loading and evaluating it
with the do function. This page describes an alternative to
evaluating REBOL expressions when they only need to be translated.
Refer to Evaluating Code for information on that topic.
The load function reads a string, translates it to REBOL readable
values, then returns it as elements in a block. If the string
translates to a single value, then just that value is returned.
Further down, the same section explains:
When load is used it scans and translates the input without
evaluating it. Thus, resulting in a block of values and words
with none of the words actually defined within the context of
the current script session.
These statements are fairly clear that
a) There is "a distinct step of translation", and that
b) The result is not just a string.
>
> 1.4 We know that there is a REBOL word load, which appears to do
> what you mean by "at translation time":
>
By the phrase "at translation time", I simply meant the time when
the above-described translation occurs.
-jn-
