Question

I’m very new to REBOL (i.e. yesterday).

I am using the term “metaprogramming” here, but I’m not sure if it is accurate. At any rate, I’m trying to understand how REBOL can execute words. To give an example, here is some code in TCL:

> # puts is the print command
> set x puts
> $x "hello world"
hello world

I’ve tried many different ways to do something similar in REBOL, but can’t get quite the same effect. Can someone offer a few different ways to do it (if possible)?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Here’s a few ways:

x: :print           ;; assign 'x to 'print
x "hello world"     ;; and execute it
hello world

blk: copy []               ;; create a block
append blk :print          ;; put 'print in it
do [blk/1 "hello world"]   ;; execute first entry in the block (which is 'print)
hello world

x: 'print                  ;; assign 'x to the value 'print
do x "hello world"         ;; execute the value contained in 'x (ie 'print)
hello world

x: "print"                ;; assign x to the string "print"
do load x "hello world"   ;; execute the value you get from evaluating 'x
hello world