Author: larry
Date: Sat Jun 21 18:28:14 2008
New Revision: 14556
Modified:
doc/trunk/design/syn/S03.pod
Log:
clarifications requested by pmichaud++
Modified: doc/trunk/design/syn/S03.pod
==============================================================================
--- doc/trunk/design/syn/S03.pod (original)
+++ doc/trunk/design/syn/S03.pod Sat Jun 21 18:28:14 2008
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@
Maintainer: Larry Wall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 8 Mar 2004
- Last Modified: 11 Jun 2008
+ Last Modified: 21 Jun 2008
Number: 3
- Version: 136
+ Version: 137
=head1 Overview
@@ -1753,7 +1753,8 @@
item foo()
-The new name for Perl 5's C<scalar> contextualizer. Equivalent to C<$()>.
+The new name for Perl 5's C<scalar> contextualizer. Equivalent to C<$()>
+(except that empty C<$()> means C<$($/)>, while empty C<item()> yields
C<Failure>).
We still call the values scalars, and talk about "scalar operators", but
scalar operators are those that put their arguments into item context.
@@ -1761,6 +1762,10 @@
is agnostic about any C<Captures> in such a list. (Use C<@> or C<@@>
below to force that one way or the other).
+Note that this is a list operator, not a unary prefix operator,
+since you'd generally want it for converting a list to an item.
+Single items don't need to be converted to items.
+
=item *
The C<list> contextualizer
@@ -1769,7 +1774,8 @@
Forces the subsequent expression to be evaluated in list context.
A list of C<Capture>s will be transformed into a flat list.
-Equivalent to C<@()>.
+Equivalent to C<@()> (except that empty C<@()> means C<@($/)>, while
+empty C<list()> means an empty list).
=item *
@@ -1780,7 +1786,8 @@
Forces the subsequent expression to be evaluated in slice context.
(Slices are considered to be potentially multidimensional in Perl 6.)
A list of C<Capture>s will be transformed into a list of lists.
-Equivalent to C<@@()>.
+Equivalent to C<@@()> (except that empty C<@@()> means C<@@($/)>, while
+empty C<slice()> means a null slice).
=item *
@@ -1793,7 +1800,8 @@
then a hash will be created from the list, taken as a list of C<Pair>s.
(Any element in the list that is not a C<Pair> will pretend to be a key
and grab the next value in the last as its value.) Equivalent to
-C<%()>.
+C<%()> (except that empty C<%()> means C<%($/)>, while
+empty C<hash()> means an empty hash).
=back
