I think the word you're looking for is "syntax". Many people think that languages like Racket "don't have syntax" or "have uniform syntax", but this is an example of how that is incorrect. Each macro has its own unique syntax and this is an example of how `let` has a unique syntax where `(` does _not_ mean "apply a function" or "apply a macro".
As a poor analogy, many human languages have a wide set of phonemes and you combine those in certain rules (like you can't have 27 consonant sounds in a row) and then use them in wider situations that we call grammar. I like to think that languages like C has lots of phonemes and little grammar, because there are lots of rules about how to form "C words" but basically no rules for how to form "C sentences", because there's a lot of uniformity in how expressions and statements combine. In contrast, languages like Racket have very few phonemes (this is what I think people mean why they say "there is no syntax") but many varied rules (in fact, arbitrary, because macros can customize them) for combining those smaller units. Jay -- Jay McCarthy Associate Professor @ CS @ UMass Lowell http://jeapostrophe.github.io Vincit qui se vincit. On Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 1:25 PM David Storrs <david.sto...@gmail.com> wrote: > Racket has a number of forms that include what look like lists of lists > but are not. For example: (let ((foo 7) (bar 8)) ...) > > What would the '(foo 7)' and '(bar 8)' elements be called? Groups, maybe? > > -- > 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 racket-users+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/racket-users/CAE8gKodX800fK45c_dyVFCNB-AKmYmK26DxC42ZRDVHdzJ2Q7g%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/racket-users/CAE8gKodX800fK45c_dyVFCNB-AKmYmK26DxC42ZRDVHdzJ2Q7g%40mail.gmail.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 racket-users+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/racket-users/CAJYbDamFTUsORe%3D07H9FROrA0bcYFbFv0PqFdapey0JqsQ-bPQ%40mail.gmail.com.
