Submodules in racket: you want it when, again?

Matthew Flatt. Submodules in racket: you want it when, again?. In Jaakko Järvi, Christian Kästner, editors, Generative Programming: Concepts and Experiences, GPCE'13, Indianapolis, IN, USA - October 27 - 28, 2013. pages 13-22, ACM, 2013. [doi]

Abstract

In an extensible programming language, programmers write code that must run at different times - in particular, at compile time versus run time. The module system of the Racket programming language enables a programmer to reason about programs in the face of such extensibility, because the distinction between run-time and compile-time phases is built into the language model. Submodules extend Racket’s module system to make the phase-separation facet of the language extensible. That is, submodules give programmers the capability to define new phases, such as “test time” or “documentation time,” with the same reasoning and code-management benefits as the built-in distinction between run time and compile time.