On Friday 20 June 2008, Lenar Lõhmus wrote:
>  Hi,
> 
>  Rodrigo Saboya wrote:
>   >> function ($x, $y) ($a, $b, $c) {};
>   >
>   > This looks better
>   >
>   >> function ($x, $y) [$a, $b, $c] {};
> 
>  I think this looks even better:
> 
>  function ($x, $y) use ($a, $b, &$c) {};
> 
>  (one could use this syntax even for traditional functions to
>  use variable copies/references from global scope - just an idea).
> 
>  my 2,
>  L.

I am not sure if "use" is the clearest word to use there (wouldn't lexical 
there make more sense?), but I think the latter is a good trade-off.  It 
makes it explicit whether you're using by-ref or by-val passing semantics, 
and the semantics and syntax are the same as for function parameters so 
there's a very low wtf factor.  I still am not sure if re-using 
the "function" keyword is going to cause confusion, though, especially if 
what is being implemented becomes (as it seems like it may) effectively an 
alternate object syntax.  

As one of the Haskell list denizens commented, is there a potential for memory 
leakage if lambdas implicitly import $this when defined within an object 
method?  Javascript makes it very easy to create memory leaks via closures if 
you're not very careful; I would be fine with requiring an explicit 
declaration of $this if it helped avoid memory leaks.

(Even if not many people will use closures at first, I anticipate that they 
will become more widely used over time by which point arguments such as "they 
won't be used often enough for the memory issue to matter" will be false but 
it will be too late to fix.  I don't think anyone has made that argument yet, 
but I'm trying to head it off before someone does. <g> )

-- 
Larry Garfield			AIM: LOLG42
larry@[...].com		ICQ: 6817012

"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of 
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, 
which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to 
himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession 
of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it."  -- Thomas 
Jefferson

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