Method invocation operator suggestion

[nikneym]

It would be nice if there was an alternative or maybe complete new (though I'm sure that people have used to it) syntax for method calling. Backslash \ is both hard to type in some localized keyboards and looks unexpected. My suggestion is using : which is same one of Lua or something like C member calls ->.

-- instead of
Player\update dt

Player:update dt
Player->update dt

with Player
  :update dt
  ->update dt

Don't know if either of these syntaxes would break the compiler since I'm unaware of architecture of the Yue compiler but I've still wanted to suggest. Thanks!

[pigpigyyy]

I've been thinking of two ways to solve this.

1. Since Player:update dt and Player ->update dt are valid syntax for the moment, it won't be a good idea to simply override the syntax with different meanings. We can make use of some other combined symbols to make an alias for method calling. For example Player:>update dt.

2. Or we can implement the infix macro operator feature to support custom operators. This feature could be like:

macro . = (a, b)-> "#{a}\#{b}"
Player$.update dt
-- or
macro : = (a, b)-> "#{a}\#{b}"
Instace$:getPlayer!$:update dt

Compiles to:

Player:update(dt)
(Instace:getPlayer()):update(dt)

[nikneym]

Hmm, I think first solution fit there better since second one requires macro operator in between. :> looks cool, maybe directly Player>update dt?

[pigpigyyy]

Player>update dt is not available because > is greater than comparison operator here. No binary operator can be reused for method call including <=, >=, ~=, !=, ==, .., <<, >>, //, +, -, *, /, %, >, <, |, &, ~. So we have to choose a different operator.

[CriztianiX]

IMHO this "feature" make no sense.

[pigpigyyy]

Well, I think this feature has its value for coding with some special keyboard layout. Googled it, it seems to be not easy for the Spanish keyboard layout to type backslash character.

[thesolitudeofnoblesoul]

Well... I write some code with dialogue and this idle come to mind:

npc\talk "Hello" -- It look bad!
npc@talk "Hello" -- It look more better!

How about level up '@'. '@' already mean 'self' but in some case it not use well. EX:

me@talk "Hello!"
npc@talk "WTF?"
return

-->> Lua:

me(self:talk("Hello!")) -- 1
npc(self:talk("WTF?")) -- 2
return -- 3

Maybe it should better if:

me:talk("Hello!") -- 1
npc:talk("WTF?") -- 2
return -- 3

I thing use '@' is more readability than ''. Maybe we can keep '\', just add support '@' without break old script! It look like there are not any use for code like "func@prop" in old syntax anyway! Not sure but correct me if I wrong here~

Thanks and regards!

[flamendless]

I agree. \ is not convenient to type (qwerty keyboard user here). It's one of the things that turn me off into trying moonscript

[pigpigyyy]

Using @ will cause ambiguous problem with the "self" indexing syntax under "with" statement.

with tb
  @item 123
  \item 123

is currently

local _with_0 = tb
self:item(123)
_with_0:item(123)

So we have to disable the use of "self" symbol to do method calling with @. And if we have to choose a single symbol to be the alternative for \, the only choice that is not causing problem could be backquote `. Is there any better idea for choosing symbols?

[thesolitudeofnoblesoul]

I somewhat skeptical about use '`' for any syntax except quote just because it is valable. It really strange because it itself name backquote and natural expected mean to quote things.

Uhm... I look like we out of any single simple, then how about:

me.@talk "abc"

It looks more verbose and should not conflict with anything.

[flamendless]

What about ~~->~~ or :: ?

EDIT: i've found out that -> is already used for function definition, so it's just :: then

[nikneym]

IMO @ operator is really good replacement for self and I'm sure most of the projects use @ instead of self. So giving it a second meaning may confuse people and make the code hard to maintain. In a second thought, I guess -> would also make code hard to read since it's already used for function definition.

Creating a custom macro for method invocation would make users to have to remember custom-defined macros each project. So similar problems with -> or @ continues.

My final conclusion: I think it makes no sense to use single character for such case since neither . nor : are options and available characters like ^, | or backquote have the same issue with \ since most of these operators are rarely used in invocation at other languages, it makes code look alien. My final vote is on :: since it's not overlapping with any other operator. I know it's not excessively common for such thing, but at least it looks more understandable compared to \. Also some other languages use it for similar purposes (C#, C++).

And lastly, it's a spiritual continuation of :

[pigpigyyy]

The .@ symbols seem reasonable for Yuescript but is not seen in other languages for similar purpose. So as a C++ programer, I feel more comfortable with the idea for :: too. But this will break a syntax for

_ = a::b

which was compiled to

local _ = {
  a = {
    b = b
  }
}

now compiles to

-- same as "_ = a\b"
local _
do
  local _base_0 = a
  local _fn_0 = _base_0.b
  _ = _fn_0 and function(...)
    return _fn_0(_base_0, ...)
  end
end

I just implemented this in a new commit and is going to add more tests for the new operator.

[pigpigyyy]

To add type annotation feature for issue #15, the alternative method calling symbol was changed to .@ instead of ::. And :: is being used as a starting symbol of type annotation.

tb\func!
tb.@func!

s::str = "abc"
add = (a::num, b::num)->::num a + b

[Sod-Almighty]

Googled it, it seems to be not easy for the Spanish keyboard layout to type backslash character.

Then how do Spanish people use the Windows command prompt or Run dialog?

[pigpigyyy]

https://www.answers.com/Q/Where_is_the_backslash_located_on_a_spanish_keyboard

[pigpigyyy]

Method invocation operator is now using :: as an aliasing for \ due to the type annotation feature is abandoned.