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- Subject: Consistency with Parameters & Return Values
- From: "Peter Hill" <corwin@...>
- Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 02:46:36 -0000
One thing that seems asymmetrical to me in Lua is that functions may take
either a fixed or variable number of arguments, while the return values are
always variable.
Pondering that... I see a solution that would potentially add a little more
clarity to functions while retaining compatibility with exisiting code.
Consider extending the function definition to something like:
function f(a,b,... -> c,d,...)
c, d = a+b, a-b -- return the 1st and 2nd results (required).
return a*b, a/b -- return the 3rd and 4th results (optional).
end
"return" is, effectively, just an assignment to the variable (optional)
portion of the return value.
Exisiting function definitions, eg:
function f(a,b,...)
are simply shorthand for:
function f(a,b,...->...)
and so remain compatible.
The key advantage to adding this feature is that functions can become more
clearer to the reader. If a function is designed only to take two fixed
arguments and return a single result (like "add") this can be shown
clearly... and accidentally returning the wrong number of results would be a
syntax error (or more likely just trimmed?). Eg:
function add(a,b->c)
c = a+b
end
----
There are actually three types of 'assignment' : (1) parameter passing, (2)
return value passing, and (3) variable assignment.
With (1) & (2) more consistent we might as well round out (3). This is
enhanced to allow:
a, b, ... = f()
This simply assigns "arg" just like in a parameter assignment.
*cheers*
Peter Hill.
PS: I haven't looked through Lua5.0 yet, so appologies if this is already
done.