On Aug 8, 2012, at 5:01 PM, Brendan Eich wrote:
> The problem is that neither = nor Object.defineProperty can be used
> succinctly and reliably to shadow or override.
OK, that's the real problem, thanks for making it clear -- sorry if I missed it
before.
>> Allen should correct me, but I think he doesn't disagree, since he says:
>>
>>> And, := should not be thought of or become the common way to do assignment.
>>> That should remain the job of =
>
> (That double-cited text is not mine, however -- it is from Allen, in reply to
> me to Doug -- but Allen is not on your To/cc list for some reason...)
Yes, I was purposefully quoting Allen (note my words, "Allen should correct
me... he says:") from another message via copy/paste-quoted. I try to avoid
needless proliferation of messages when I can condense into a single reply.
>> If it's not common, then that's a strong case against getting dedicated
>> syntax.
>
> That is a bit circular.
I was not saying "if it's not already common then we shouldn't support it" --
you know me, that's not an argument I would make. Allen was saying it should
not *become* the common way to do assignment. So then the question becomes: how
common should it be, then? Are the use cases it addresses common enough to
warrant new syntax?
You've clarified that this is about working around the problem of
non-overridable prototype properties. That's a real issue, I agree, but I'm not
convinced it's general enough to need syntax.
> The deeper point: maybe it's too late to fix anything (for Caja, or on
> balance). But Allen argues the future of JS is longer than its past.
Again, I'm not arguing the pave-nothing-but-cowpaths argument. I'm simply
arguing that syntax needs a better justification than whether it solves a
problem; it needs to fit in as a comfortable, central idiom. Especially syntax
that looks like a new variation on an existing thing. ("Wait, which kind of
assignment do I need to use here?") But I need to study the strawman more.
Dave
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