On 20/05/2021 19:16, Alexandru Pătrănescu wrote:
Also, considering the resolution between property and method (or between
constants and static methods) , it's clear that we need a syntax that looks
like the usual invocation:(...), or (?), (...?), ($), ($$), (...$) etc.
I'd like to expand on this point, because I'm seeing a lot of
suggestions for syntaxes that overlook it.
The following are all valid, but refer to _different_ things called "foo":
foo // a constant called foo
foo() // a function called foo
$foo // a variable called foo
$bar->foo // a property called foo
$bar->foo() // a method called foo
Bar::foo // a class constant
Bar::foo() // a static method
Bar::$foo // a static property
The thing that consistently distinguishes function and method calls is
the parentheses after them. This holds even for "exotic" combinations:
$foo() // a variable called foo, de-referenced as a callable and then
invoked
($bar->foo)() // a property called foo, de-referenced as a callable and
then invoked
foo()() // a function called foo, the return value of which is
de-referenced as a callable and invoked
Any callable syntax (and, if/when we get one, a partial application
syntax) that doesn't have the parentheses there is going to run into
annoying edge cases fast. Not necessarily the kind of edge cases that
are hard for the parser, but definitely the kind that are confusing to
humans.
Regards,
--
Rowan Tommins
[IMSoP]
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