eval() macro as part of the nedit macro language

[Bert Wesarg]

> I once had a cooked up version that allowed any string value to be used
> as a function name, so that something like the following was possible:
>   a = "length"
>   len = a("string")
> I let it drop, because it really did seem like a can of worms! However,
> a way of loading a function into a variable would be great, giving us
> something like function pointers.
shouldn't this be that hard, an new variable of type MACRO_TAG (or
PROG_TAG), a function parse(string) that can return exacly that, and now
you can do:

func = parse("return 5")
five = func()

or, a little more intrusive (which is inspired by JavaScript, except with
'define' instead of 'function'):

func = define {
  return 5
}

five = func()

But I know too little from the nedit macro internals.

> This involves serious language design
> and might impose changes like nedit's currently simplistic scoping
> rules. I believe it would also require a serious attack on the macro
> memory management system.
> 
> Tony

Bert