cc es-discuss On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 7:58 PM, Dmitry Soshnikov < [email protected]> wrote:
> Forgot to add es-discuss to cc (original reply is below; the letter was > sent yesterday and was the first reply); there I also proposed active > "blocks" as "callable blocks" > > But in fact, if to recall the topic "Everything is expression" (which > unfortunately became silent), it was already proposed including blocks to > return values. Moreover, that's said since even in ES3 blocks (and in fact > any statement) has completion result, it's easy to implement. > > Dmitry. > > > On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 10:26 PM, Dmitry Soshnikov < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> >> On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 10:10 PM, John J Barton < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> The blog post http://yehudakatz.com/2012/01/10/javascript-needs-blocks/ >>> makes >>> the case for blocks that act like functions when passed as arguments but >>> have loop-up rules more like nested blocks. >>> >>> Of course these are called 'block lambdas', and I suggest that this is a >>> problem. Given that very few programmers understand lambda calculus (and >>> this will not change), the word 'lambda' is equivalent to "too difficult to >>> understand". >>> >>> When I looked up lambda on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda I read >>> >>> In mathematical logic<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_logic> >>> and computer science <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science>, >>> lambda is used to introduce an anonymous >>> function<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_function> expressed >>> with the concepts of lambda >>> calculus<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_calculus> >>> . >>> >>> and then "Oh that is what they meant with all that 'block-lambda' stuff". >>> >>> If the discussion here were on a new ES feature "anonymous methods", >>> >> >> >> Yep, though the main difference b/w "active blocks" (is this naming is >> better than "block lambdas"?) is that by TCP, the block exits parent's >> context, whereas "anonymous methods" return the the caller. >> >> So, there should semantic difference in discussions and explanations. >> "Active blocks" is a good alternative to eliminate "lambda". However, of >> course, more-less advanced programmer which want to know (and should know) >> computer science concepts will go later deeper and will tackle with lambdas >> again. And then she will say: "Oh, that is what they mean by action blocks >> / anonymous methods". >> >> P.S.: small nit-pick,. from lambda calculus, the lambda is not necessary >> anonymous. The lambda is just an _abstraction_ -- the basic encapsulation >> block. Yes, it's a _function_ is the simplest view. >> >> Dmitry. >> >> >> >>> then I guess many more developers would be interested. If this feature >>> had the properties outlined in the blog post, then I think many developers >>> would understand the value of this potential feature. As it is I guess they >>> stop reading as soon as they see the word 'lambda'. >>> >>> jjb >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> es-discuss mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/es-discuss >>> >>> >> >
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