[ENH] Empty return expression
Jarvis, Robert P.
Jarvisb at timken.com
Mon Sep 27 13:56:15 UTC 1999
I don't like this because IMO it obfuscates what's going on without adding
value. If you want to answer self in this situation, then type
^self
This requires four keystrokes, and it's clear. Besides, if the method is
going to answer 'nothing returned' shouldn't it answer nil instead of self?
Bob Jarvis
The Timken Company
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bert Freudenberg [SMTP:bert at isgnw.CS.Uni-Magdeburg.De]
> Sent: Monday, September 27, 1999 4:36 AM
> To: squeak at cs.uiuc.edu
> Subject: [ENH] Empty return expression
>
> Parser patch to allow empty returns that indicate 'nothing returned' like
> foo ifTrue: [self doSomething. ^]
> instead of the currently often (mis-)used
> foo ifTrue: [^self doSomething]
> as short form of
> foo ifTrue: [self doSomething. ^self]
>
> Discussion:
> This syntax matches the implicit return of self at the end of
> a method. It makes the "void" return type of a method explicit, which is
> good for self-documenting code. It's backwards compatible. It's a minor
> change in the parser. So why not?
>
> It's not compatible to other Smalltalks - but then, the brace constructs
> are even more different.
>
> /bert << File: >>
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