[Mono-devel-list] Using System.Reflection.Emit for interactive languages

[Jim Blandy]

I've been playing with the System.Reflection.Emit stuff, and I have
some questions.

- Is it possible to re-define a method?  Is there anything less
  horrible than MethodRental.SwapMethodBody?

- Is it possible to delete a method altogether?

- Is it possible to create anonymous modules, types, and methods?

The MumbleBuilder classes seem essentially like ways to build up a
parse tree of an ilasm file; in that context, you can actually conjure
specific types or methods into existence.  But this model is an odd
fit for interactive languages, where the user is entering expressions
or functions that may only be executed once, or for functional
languages, where anonymous procedures are quite common.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a MumbleBuilder family for something like
ILX?  Perhaps the existing MumbleBuilder family could just be extended
as appropriate.