4 ms·

@raganwald -- Lovely post, as always. One (somewhat important) question: If same-level continued calls mean chaining, and indented continued calls mean to use t

@raganwald -- Lovely post, as always. One (somewhat important) question: If same-level continued calls mean chaining, and indented continued calls mean to use the value of the previous line, then what do outdented continued calls mean? first .second Or heading 'offsides', in this fashion: first .second .third Are those both syntax errors at compile time? Also, how does this play with things that are not necessarily side-effect-ful? For example: object.property .value Currently means `object.property.value`. Under your rubric, would it evaluate to `object.value`? Making any trailing access effectively a no-op?

eric-hu 15y ago
What about maintaining backwards compatibility while adding an operator specifically for this purpose. Example # same as first.second.third first .second .third # same as first.second, first.third first .second ^third # same as first.second.third first .second .third # syntax error first .second ^third
satyr 15y ago
There's no outdented continued call in current CoffeeScript; an outdented line always makes OUTDENT. (Or are you suggesting to allow such code? I personally see no value in it.)
raganwald 15y ago
Outdented calls use the last value in the column to their left. So: first .second Never means `first.second`, either `.second` is an error, or it is applied to something above this, such as: someValue .methodName -> first .second ...which becomes: someValue.methodName(-> first) someValue.second If such a value can't be found, it's an error. Of interest is the meaning of `.propertyName` in the leftmost column, as in: object .property I suggest it's an error. As long as you can write: object.property # or... object .property I don't see the value in object .property This: object.property .value Means `object.property.value`.
- sausagefeet 15y ago
  IMHO, Smalltalk got this right using ; rather than whitespace. And it's easier to read.
- satyr 15y ago
  > I suggest it's an error. So we'd have to give up: array .map (x) -> f x .reduce (a, b) -> g a, b

eric-hu 15y ago

What about maintaining backwards compatibility while adding an operator specifically for this purpose. Example # same as first.second.third first .second .third # same as first.second, first.third first .second ^third # same as first.second.third first .second .third # syntax error first .second ^third

satyr 15y ago

There's no outdented continued call in current CoffeeScript; an outdented line always makes OUTDENT. (Or are you suggesting to allow such code? I personally see no value in it.)

raganwald 15y ago

Outdented calls use the last value in the column to their left. So: first .second Never means `first.second`, either `.second` is an error, or it is applied to something above this, such as: someValue .methodName -> first .second ...which becomes: someValue.methodName(-> first) someValue.second If such a value can't be found, it's an error. Of interest is the meaning of `.propertyName` in the leftmost column, as in: object .property I suggest it's an error. As long as you can write: object.property # or... object .property I don't see the value in object .property This: object.property .value Means `object.property.value`.

sausagefeet 15y ago
IMHO, Smalltalk got this right using ; rather than whitespace. And it's easier to read.
satyr 15y ago
> I suggest it's an error. So we'd have to give up: array .map (x) -> f x .reduce (a, b) -> g a, b