On Tue, 28 May 2002, Glenn Linderman wrote: > "with" reads very nicely, but we already have a perl6 precedent, > perhaps... how about reusing "when" as the method name for currying? > This may not curry favor with Damian, but I suggest > > my & half = & div.when(y => 2); > > would declare the subroutine "half" to be equal to the subroutine "div" > when the parameter y is given the value 2. The code and the English > both read very nicely IMHO, and virtually identically, and the English > version seems even more clear to me when using "when" rather than with > "with". > > Further, there is a nice analogy with the usage of the keyword "when" in > a given clause and the usage of the method name "when" to perform > currying: both "when"s specify particular values that control the choice > of code to be executed. The "given" keyword supplies the 'parameters' > for the "given" statement, and the original function declaration > supplies the parameters for the original function.
It is precisely that similarity that's going to become confusing. A big problem with Perl 5, as I have seen, is that it takes a lot of effort to learn. Overloading C<when> will give learners a really hard time. "Wait, so when I give a variable after it then a block it does that block... but if I give a dot before it it returns a function?" they'd seem to say. Wait, does this have any meaning?: my &half = \div(y => 2) Is backslash even a valid operator for reference anymore? If so, this makes sense to me. Luke
