The real bug behind the case/cond-> fixpoint regression wasn't gensym — it was
build ordering. A top-level defn in a pre-kernel tier (the fresh-sym helper these
macros need) gets compiled in compile mode, and that lazily builds the self-hosted
analyzer via ensure-analyzer. 00-syntax loads before 00-kernel, so the analyzer
was built against a core missing mapv/second/peek/...: its references to them were
interned as forward-ref nil cells in jolt.analyzer. Those nil cells then shadowed
the real clojure.core defs when the analyzer rebuilt itself (stage2), so the
analyzer's own mapv calls went to nil — 'Cannot call nil as a function'. Only
variadic-heavy paths (juxt+mapv) surfaced it.
build-compiler! already documented that the kernel must be loaded first; nothing
enforced it. Gate ensure-analyzer on a :kernel-ready? flag set after the kernel
tier loads. A pre-kernel compile now falls back to the interpreter (compile-and-eval
already handles that) instead of building the analyzer too early. fresh-sym ends up
interpreted during 00-syntax load, which is fine.
With ordering fixed, case and cond-> move to 00-syntax (they need a real gensym, so
syntax-quote auto-gensym alone won't do). conformance 228x3, fixpoint stage1==2==3,
clojure-test-suite 3930, full suite green, bench flat.
Threading macros (recursive; the expand-once cache makes that free) and declare
(a no-op on Jolt — forward refs resolve via pending cells). They live in 00-syntax
because the analyzer itself uses -> and declare; validated by conformance 228x3
(the bootstrap-compiled analyzer expands them).
conformance 228/228 x3, clojure-test-suite 3930.
The hot control macros now live in the Clojure syntax tier. This was blocked
before: as interpreted overlay macros they re-expanded on every eval, timing out
a battery file (3930->3911). With the expand-once macro cache (prior commit) they
expand a single time with zero runtime cost, so moving them is free.
conformance 228/228 x3, clojure-test-suite 3930 (9 timeouts, not 10), full suite
green, bench flat (overlay vs janet macros within noise).
New 00-syntax tier loaded FIRST (before 00-kernel), interpreted defmacros, so the
control macros the compiler and every later tier depend on can live in Clojure.
Validated by moving when: the kernel tier, self-hosted analyzer and seq/coll
tiers all compile against the overlay when. Constraint: syntax-tier macros may use
only special forms + core-renames seed primitives (not second/peek/kernel fns).
conformance 228/228 x3, full suite green.
