Term Arguments

Starting with StrategoRelease093, strategy operators can be passed terms in addition to strategies. Currently, a strategy definition is of the form

  f(s1, ..., sn) = body

where body is a strategy expression referring to the strategy arguments si.

A term can be passed to such a strategy by passing a build, e.g., foo(t). The receiving strategy accesses the term by executing the corresponding strategy.

In certain situations, which arise for example in the compilation of strategies, it is desirable to pass a term 'by value'. Thus, the syntax of Stratego has been extended to allow this. A strategy definition now has the form

  f(s1,..., sn | x1, ..., xm) = body

where the xi are term arguments of f, which can be referred to directly in match and build expressions. Such an operator is called using the syntax f(s1,...,sn|t1,...,tm)

Note that the following sugar is defined:

• f(s1,...,sn) = body is sugar for f(s1,...,sn|) = body
• f = body is sugar for f(|) = body

and similarly for rules. Corresponding sugar holds for strategy calls:

• f(s1,...,sn) is sugar for f(s1,...,sn|)
• f is sugar for f(|)

-- EelcoVisser - 23 Aug 2003