Phorms: Pattern Combinator Library for Pharo

International audiencePattern matching is a common mechanism to provide analysis and transformation of data structures. Such an approach basically checks whether the containing elements of a data structure are constituents of a pattern, described by the developer. This paper is a step towards having seamless object-oriented pattern matching, which would be applicable to any object in Pharo. We present a pattern matching library, called Phorms, which enables users to compose patterns using the syntax of the Pharo programming language. In this library, patterns are objects and therefore can be inspected and de-bugged using existing Pharo tools. Our solution is extensible unlike The Rewrite Engine – Pharo's current pattern matching facilities. Moreover, by treating patterns as first class objects, our library provides more flexibility in the pattern matching process