From: Josh Cheek <josh.cheek@...>
Date: 2011-04-08T21:52:41+09:00
Subject: Re: "of" keyword? inverse dot syntax...

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On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 3:34 AM, Julian Leviston <julian@coretech.net.au>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Consider this:
>
> some_data.to_s.split("\n").each{|item| puts item}
>
> how about an alternative syntax for the dot operator:
>
> each{|item| puts item} of split("\n") of to_s of some_data
>
> or, more intelligently:
>
> this_school.students.addresses.map{|address| a.all_as_one_sentence}
>
> map{|address| all_as_one_sentence of address} of addresses of students of
> this_school
>
> Just wondering if this is a possibility? :)
>
> julian.
>


I don't think my brain would be very fond of this, I like starting with the
thing I know and applying a series of transformations to it via methods to
turn it into the thing I want. I feel like I'd have to keep jumping to the
right to see what I have, and then back to the left to see what I'm doing to
it.

join of map(&:name) of students
join of map(&:name) of courses

They are the same until the very end, so you can't know what you're talking
about until after you're done talking about it.

But maybe if I experienced I'd become more familiar some way of thinking
that fits better with this syntax. Maybe in practice, it would only be used
in situations like `name of student` where it feels natural and the context
is straightforward, and not in situations like `join of array` where join is
an action rather than an attribute.

IDK, I'd try it out if someone went and did it, but I don't think I'd
advocate that someone put forth the effort to do it otherwise (though it
might not be very difficult, might just require a handful of lines of yacc
or something)

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