Question

I am working on a language translator in guile scheme, and need to handle the basic case, where you’re trying to convert a single word.

(define var 5)
(translate var)

This should return the string var and not the number 5.
How do I do this using R5RS Scheme macros (the define-syntax style)?

Edit:
I’m translating from Scheme to Coffeescript.

Answer 1

(define-syntax translate
  (syntax-rules ()
    [(_ v) 'v]))

And if you want a string:

(define-syntax translate
  (syntax-rules ()
    [(_ v) (symbol->string 'v)]))

Hopefully Guile’s compiler is smart enough to fold the resulting expression so it essentially becomes a constant string.