Re: [RFC] [Discussion] Short Closures

Hi Levi, Levi Morrison wrote:

If this RFC passes I'd like to see one that builds on it to remove the { return <expr> ;} boilerplate of the above definition:

     function reduce ($initial) ~> $fn ~> $input {
         $accumulator = $initial;
         foreach ($input as $value) {
             $accumulator = $fn($accumulator, $value);
         }
         return $accumulator;
     }

I'm not saying it would be that syntax exactly but something like that would be nice if this RFC passes.

That looks rather weird to me, but I like the concept. I think a possible improvement might be a generalised syntax, similar to that used for constants, that lets you use any \Closure object to define a function or method. Thus:

    function reduce = $initial ~> $fn ~> $input ~> {
        // ...
    };

This has that advantage that it isn't just useful for when you want to use the short syntax. You can also use it when you're obtaining a Closure in some novel way, perhaps a higher-order function:

    // where "add" is a function that adds two numbers
    function sum = reduce(0)("add");

With this, you don't have to write a wrapper function, or use a global variable, to define a proper top-level function. Hope this is helpful. -- Andrea Faulds http://ajf.me/