From: Dave Burt <dave@...>
Date: 2005-10-28T23:47:04+09:00
Subject: Re: Cleaner syntax for .map (is there already a way, or ruby2 idea?)

David A. Black wrote:
> I continue to struggle to understand what people find so horrible
> about ary.each {|item| .... }, ary.map {|item| ... }, and so forth.
> I'll have some more coffee and maybe I'll start to see the light....

There's nothing really wrong with them, but they are verbose in simple (and 
common) cases:

result = array.map {|element| element.transform }

The only issue is that you're saying "element" twice when you would only say 
it once if you were describing the operation to a person.

Groovy's (optional) implicit parameter is the counterpoint:

// Groovy:
result = array.map { it.transform() }

Tangentially, I wonder if the proposed Ruby 2 block syntax makes this 
slightly more possible.

# Pseudo-Ruby 2.0:
result = array.map -> { it.transform }

Actually, probably less possible - IIRC the new block style is meant to be 
more like the method semantics, and so stricter on parameters.

So, anyway, I don't mind the idea of an implicit parameter, but I realise 
it's not going to happen before Ruby 3.

Cheers,
Dave