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Add a second, more vexing section on recursive macros

Fixes #22423.
This commit is contained in:
Keegan McAllister 2015-02-20 21:39:03 -08:00
parent 65e1e6bb94
commit 1804242a2d

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@ -192,6 +192,53 @@ To keep this system simple and correct, `#[macro_use] extern crate ...` may
only appear at the root of your crate, not inside `mod`. This ensures that
`$crate` is a single identifier.
# The deep end
The introductory chapter mentioned recursive macros, but it did not give the
full story. Recursive macros are useful for another reason: Each recursive
invocation gives you another opportunity to pattern-match the macro's
arguments.
As an extreme example, it is possible, though hardly advisable, to implement
the [Bitwise Cyclic Tag](http://esolangs.org/wiki/Bitwise_Cyclic_Tag) automaton
within Rust's macro system.
```rust
#![feature(trace_macros)]
macro_rules! bct {
// cmd 0: d ... => ...
(0, $($ps:tt),* ; $_d:tt)
=> (bct!($($ps),*, 0 ; ));
(0, $($ps:tt),* ; $_d:tt, $($ds:tt),*)
=> (bct!($($ps),*, 0 ; $($ds),*));
// cmd 1p: 1 ... => 1 ... p
(1, $p:tt, $($ps:tt),* ; 1)
=> (bct!($($ps),*, 1, $p ; 1, $p));
(1, $p:tt, $($ps:tt),* ; 1, $($ds:tt),*)
=> (bct!($($ps),*, 1, $p ; 1, $($ds),*, $p));
// cmd 1p: 0 ... => 0 ...
(1, $p:tt, $($ps:tt),* ; $($ds:tt),*)
=> (bct!($($ps),*, 1, $p ; $($ds),*));
// halt on empty data string
( $($ps:tt),* ; )
=> (());
}
fn main() {
trace_macros!(true);
# /* just check the definition
bct!(0, 0, 1, 1, 1 ; 1, 0, 1);
# */
}
```
Exercise: use macros to reduce duplication in the above definition of the
`bct!` macro.
# A final note
Macros, as currently implemented, are not for the faint of heart. Even