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Bootstrapping Meta-Circular and Autogenous Code Generation

Authors:
Herwig Mannaert
Koen De Cock

Keywords: Evolvability; Metaprogramming; Design Patterns; Meta-Circularity.

Abstract:
Metaprogramming or automated code generation has been pursued for a long time, and is often considered crucial to increase programming productivity. It has been argued in previous work that evolvability of software is equally important, and that a meta-circular metaprogramming architecture may be crucial to addressing some fundamental evolvability issues in metaprogramming. At the same time, the field of software engineering struggles to provide firm technical guidance to computer programmers, and often reverts to heuristics and documented patterns. As metaprogramming is in general more complex than traditional programming, it seems even more crucial to provide technical guidance to metaprogrammers. In this contribution, the bootstrapping of an elementary meta-circular metaprogramming environment is investigated. Its main purpose is to serve as a pathfinder for the development of design patterns and techniques that can support and guide metaprogramming.

Pages: 87 to 92

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2022

Publication date: October 16, 2022

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4235

ISBN: 978-1-61208-997-3

Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Dates: from October 16, 2022 to October 20, 2022