[MLton] can mlbasis rename the top-level?

[Matthew Fluet]

>> One could invert ( subvert :) ) the whole process.  Don't embed SML in
>> the MLB grammer, embed the MLB in SML.  Use a similar approach to the
>> SML/NJ Quote/AntiQuote (shades of Scheme) solution where the backquote
>> is used to delimit quotations of MLB grammer within SML and is no longer
>> a valid symbol character.  This deviation would only occur if a -mlb
>> flag is specified OR the mlton target file ends in the mlb extension.
>
> Losing both the ^ and ` characters for SML identifiers would play
> merry havoc with all the FRU code that has been bouncing backwards and
> forwards on the list recently.

Also, semantically, MLB really lives "above" SML; just like the Module 
language is layered on the Core language, the MLB language is layered on 
the Module language.

Quote/AntiQuote is a convenient mechanism for using SML as the 
meta-language for an embedded object-language, but the "meta-" is 
important there.  There is no inherent semantics given to the 
object-language.  Such is not the case with the relationship between MLB 
and SML.