From: bozhidar@... Date: 2019-03-26T14:20:06+00:00 Subject: [ruby-core:91995] [Ruby trunk Misc#15723] Reconsider numbered parameters Issue #15723 has been updated by bozhidar (Bozhidar Batsov). > I definitely prefer @1 over %1 for Ruby, because for me it 'rhymes' with @instance_var and @@class_var, as jeremyevans0 has explained. That's why I dislike it so much. Block vars would ideally not look like class/instance vars. Apart from my preferences this will also impact some editors, which might have had custom font locking for something starting with `@` and now they have to update it to differentiate the two categories. I get that there are no great options right now, but that's also what bothers me so much about this - it was clear that the feature is somewhat problematic, clearly there's also backlash against it, and we are still moving forward with it on some really vague merits. If that's what we call "optimizing for happiness" these days Ruby has lost its way... It's obviously up to Matz to decide how he wants to do things, but I think that controversial features might be rollbacked until they are researched better and ideally solved better. With the strong focus on backwards compatibility every time something gets accepted into the language we're basically stuck with it forever, so I think it makes sense to think long and hard about any language change. I also feel there's a communication problem - as people outside the core team generally have no way to know what's being worked on it's hard for them to provide any feedback on shortlisted issues until they see some announcement that a few feature was added. ---------------------------------------- Misc #15723: Reconsider numbered parameters https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/15723#change-77325 * Author: sos4nt (Stefan Sch����ler) * Status: Feedback * Priority: Normal * Assignee: ---------------------------------------- I just learned that *numbered parameters* have been merged into Ruby 2.7.0dev. For readers not familiar with this feature: it allows you to reference block arguments solely by their *index*, e.g. ```ruby [1, 2, 3].each { |i| puts i } # can become [1, 2, 3].each { puts @1 } ``` I have an issue with this new feature: I think **it encourages sloppy programming** and results in **hard to read code**. --- The [original proposal](https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/4475) was to include a special variable (or keyword) with a **readable name**, something like: ```ruby [1, 2, 3].each { puts it } # or [1, 2, 3].each { puts this } ``` Granted, that looks quite lovely and it actually speaks to me ��� I can *understand* the code. And it fits Ruby: (quoting the website) > [Ruby] has an elegant syntax that is natural to read and easy to write. But the proposed `it` / `this` has limited application. It's only useful when dealing with a single argument. You can't have multiple `it`-s or `this`-es. That's why `@1`, `@2`, `@3` etc. were chosen instead. However, limiting the usefulness to a single argument isn't bad at at. In fact, a single argument seem to be the limit of what makes sense: ``` h = Hash.new { |hash, key| hash[key] = "Go Fish: #{key}" } # vs h = Hash.new { @1[@2] = "Go Fish: #{@2}" } ``` Who wants to read the latter? That looks like an archaic bash program (no offense). We already discourage Perl style `$`-references: (from [The Ruby Style Guide](https://github.com/rubocop-hq/ruby-style-guide#no-perl-regexp-last-matchers)) > Don't use the cryptic Perl-legacy variables denoting last regexp group matches (`$1`, `$2`, etc). Use `Regexp.last_match(n)` instead. I don't see how our code can benefit from adding `@1` and `@2`. Naming a parameter isn't useless ��� it gives context. With more than one parameter, naming is crucial. And yes, naming is hard. But avoiding proper naming by using indices is the wrong way. So please reconsider numbered parameters. Use a readable named variable (or keyword) to refer to the first argument or ditch the feature entirely. -- https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/ Unsubscribe: