[racket] Newbie question: Teach Yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days - macros

From: John Sampson (jrs.idx at ntlworld.com)
Date: Wed Mar 30 05:31:35 EDT 2011

Hello -

I am going through TYSIFD which is said to be compatible with mzScheme.

Descriptions of macros seem to be different depending which book one reads.
TYSIFD advises the reader to 'require' the defmacro library
- '(require (lib "defmacro.rkt"))' when using Racket (I assume) - and 
gives the example

(define-macro  when
   (lambda  (test  .branch)
     (list  'if  test
       (cons  'begin  branch))))

I typed this in to DrRacket substituting 'mywhen' for 'when'
then tried it out by copying in

(mywhen  (<  (pressure  tube)60)
    (open-valve  tube)
    (attach  floor-pump  tube)
    (depress  floor-pump  5)
    (detach  floor-pump  tube)
    (close-valve  tube)))


I checked these very carefully for typos and I think I have
typed correctly, but instead of being 'converted to another expression'
this evoked the error message
"if: bad syntax (must have an "else" expression) in:..."

 From this, should I assume that there is a difference between Racket
and mzScheme regarding define-macro? In case the 'require' had not worked
I did try '(require (mzlib "defmacro.rkt"))'
but this evoked
'mzlib: not a require sub-form in: (mzlib "defmacro.rkt")'

What is the best source for learning about macros in Racket, assuming no 
previous
knowledge of macros?

Regards

_John Sampson_


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