From: Mike Edgar <adgar@...>
Date: 2011-09-26T05:38:34+09:00
Subject: [ruby-core:39707] Re: [Ruby 1.9 - Feature #5364] How about new syntax: "object.\method" returns a Method instance?

Of note, there is already a working patch (for a very similar feature) for the 1.9 branch at the ruby-patches github repo [0], ported from the old Suby experiment project [1].

It doesn't use ".\", just "\" and has an implicit self form, too. So:

\class # => #<Method: Object(Kernel)#class>
1\+ # => #<Method: Fixnum#+>
"hello"\` # => #<Method: String(Kernel)#`>
"hi"\class.class # => Method
"hi"\class\type\class # => #<Method: Method(Kernel)#class>

[0] https://github.com/michaeledgar/ruby-patches/tree/master/1.9/method_operator
[1] http://rubyforge.org/projects/suby/

On Sep 25, 2011, at 4:13 PM, Eric Hodel wrote:

> 
> Issue #5364 has been updated by Eric Hodel.
> 
> Category set to core
> 
> =begin
> I find myself rarely needing to call #method and I don't often see code where other people call #method, so I don't see the need to add special syntax for it.  Is there a reason why you use #method very often and that having a more compact syntax would help?
> 
> Note that \ can be used at the end of a line to continue it to the next line:
> 
>  return \
>    really_long_expression
> =end
> 
> ----------------------------------------
> Feature #5364: How about new syntax: "object.\method" returns a Method instance?
> http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/5364
> 
> Author: Joey Zhou
> Status: Open
> Priority: Normal
> Assignee: 
> Category: core
> Target version: 
> 
> 
> I'm afraid the normal way of creating a Method instance is circuitous and a bit hard to write:
> 
>    a_method = object.method(:method_name)
> 
> I find the way of obtaining a function/method object in Python is so easy, for example, "str.split()" returns a list, while "str.split" (without parentheses) returns a method object. However, parenthesis in Ruby is always optional, so this road is blocked.
> 
> Well, how about "object.\method" style? You can type "str.\split" to get "str.method(:split)".
> 
> The reasons are:
> 
> 1. It makes people happy, writing less code, and no harm to readability.
> 
> 2. "\" is not a frequently used token. It can only be used in strings, regexps (or any else?). I think using this token leads to no ambiguity.
> 
> 3. "\" is like Perl's referrence symbol. In Perl, you can use "$f = \&func;" to make a referrence to the function. In Ruby, "&" seems unnecessary.
> 
> 4. It enhances the consistency of the language syntax. There are two correlative methods "Object#send" and "Object#method", but...
> 
>    str.send(:split)       == str.split
>    str.method(:split)   == ???????
> 
> If adding this new syntax, it looks more pretty:
> 
>    str.method(:split)   == str.\split
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> http://redmine.ruby-lang.org
>