How Novel Is Ren-C's Isotopic Model?

Here are some details of the mechanical implementation if you are curious...

The HEART_BYTE() of the cell encodes its fundamental type (e.g. BLOCK!, GROUP!, INTEGER!, whatever)

The LIFT_BYTE() thus doesn't have to encode things like "are you a void". Voidness comes from being in the 0 state (ANTIFORM_0).

#define NONQUASI_BIT                1

#define ANTIFORM_0                  0  // also "QUASI" (NONQUASI_BIT is clear)
#define NOQUOTE_1                   1
#define QUASIFORM_2                 2
#define ONEQUOTE_NONQUASI_3         3  // non-quasiquoted state of 1 quote
#define ONEQUOTE_QUASI_4            4  // quasiquoted state of 1 quote
// ...etc

The antiforms come from this table:

https://rebol.metaeducation.com/t/which-antiforms-are-in-use/2276

1 Like