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"if Ruby and React had an indentation based lovechild, what would it look like?" Let me guess!... CoffeeScript?

• _hadrian 11y ago
  yeah, just add the jsx to CoffeeScript :D
• judofyr 11y ago
  Imba was actually forked from CoffeeScript three years ago. After the fork there's been a bunch changes, both in terms of adding tags, but also when it comes to the object model and variable scope. - Implicit calling: `foo.bar` calls `foo.bar()` and `foo.bar = 123` calls `foo.setBar(123)` - Objects have instance variables that's separate from the methods. Well, technically the instance variable `@bar` is just stored as a property with name `_bar` on the object. - Variables must be declared with `var` and they correctly shadow previously defined variables. - `do` provides a syntax sugar for the pattern "function as the last argument" - Optional arguments work together with block parameters def timeout(amount = 0, &cb) cb(amount) Compiles to: function timeout(amount,cb) if(cb==undefined && typeof amount == 'function') cb = amount,amount = 0; return cb(amount); }; - `self` is a keyword which is a saner `this`, and instance variables are automatically looked up using `self`: def end @client.on("end") do @server.end Compiles to: function end(){ var self=this; return this._client.on("end",function() { return self._server.end(); }); };
  • untog 11y ago
    - Implicit calling: `foo.bar` calls `foo.bar()` and `foo.bar = 123` calls `foo.setBar(123)` Wuhh. Why wouldn't you use JS defineProperty here?
    • judofyr 11y ago
      There's one historic reason (it wasn't widely available when Imba was started). Another reason is performance: the last time we benchmarked this `defineProperty` was slower than regular function calls. Maybe it's improved now. Semantically the biggest difference is that you don't need to do anything special for marking a method as a property: class List def length # … In this case `list.length` just works. The disadvantage of this is that if you want to get the function itself, there's a separate syntax (`list:length`). Other than that, this is mostly about taste/style.
  • simplify 11y ago
    Re implicit calling: what would you write if you wanted to access `foo.bar` as a function instead of calling it?
    • nawitus 11y ago
      I'm also wondering this. It looks like a huge design error.
      • mbrock 11y ago
        foo:bar is property access.
  • deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  • sunbursts 11y ago
    Why is Imba any better than Coffeescript? It looks like it does nearly the same thing...