Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- at:tutorial:basic [2007/04/17 17:04] – tvcutsem
+++ at:tutorial:basic [2007/04/17 17:26] – tvcutsem
@@ Line 148: / Line 148: @@
 This example also illustrates how a function can be made "private" by means of lexical scoping rules. Variables and functions defined locally to functions are only visible in the scope of the function where there were defined. Note that the local ''inner'' function is only visible inside the ''fac'' function and its nested scopes.
 ==== Variable-Length Argument Functions ====
@@ Line 177: / Line 178: @@
 In that case, the //sum// function still accepts an arbitrary number of arguments as long as two arguments are supplied. //a// and //b// are considered as mandatory arguments of the argument list.
-A function can also declare optional arguments as shown below. Optional arguments can be omitted in a function call. Internally, the default value provided in their definition is passed as the argument to the function.
+A function can also declare optional arguments as shown below. Optional arguments can be omitted in a function call. If this is the case, the default expression provided in their definition is evaluated and passed as argument to the function instead.
 <code>
 >def incr( number, step := 1){ number + step}
@@ Line 186: / Line 187: @@
 >>6
 </code>
+As is customary in languages with the above parameter passing semantics, AmbientTalk requires mandatory parameters to be defined //before// optional parameters, which should in turn be defined //before// a variable-argument parameter, if any.
 ===== Closures =====
@@ Line 203: / Line 206: @@
 </code>
-This example also illustrates how a function can make public some of its local fields or functions by returning them as its return value. The get and set could be then passed as arguments to other functions such as //trustedFunction(get,set)// and  //distrustedFunction(get)//.
+This example also illustrates how a function can make public some of its local fields or functions by returning them as its return value. The ''get'' and ''set'' operations can then be passed separately throughout the application, e.g. an application module that has read-only access to ''val'' only receives the ''get'' closure.
 ===== Blocks =====
-In AmbientTalk, blocks are merely syntactic sugar for anonymous closures (aka lambdas).  Blocks are creating using the {} braces in the form of:
+In AmbientTalk, blocks are merely syntactic sugar for the creation of anonymous closures (also known as //lambdas//).  Blocks are creating using curly braces in the form of:
 <code>
 { |<parlist>| <body> }
 </code>
-If the block do not require any parameter, the |<parlist>| can be omitted.  Consider a basic block to sum two numbers:
+If the block does not require any parameter, the |<parlist>| can be omitted. Consider a basic block to sum two numbers:
 <code>
->{| a, b| a+ b} (3,2)
+>{|a, b| a+ b}(3,2)
 >>5
 </code>
 Note that the argument list passed to the block can define the different types of arguments previously explained.
 <code>
->{|a, b, @rest|
+>def sum := {|a, b, @rest|
    def total := a + b;
    foreach: { |el| total := total + el} in: rest; total
- }(1,2,3)
+ }; sum(1,2,3)
 >>6
 </code>
@@ Line 227: / Line 231: @@
 This example also illustrates that blocks are also used to iterate over enumerations, such as in //foreach: {} in: table//.
-AmbientTalk doesn’t support function assigment. However, one can assign blocks to variables. In order to call the block the name of the variable must be used. If the block defined parameters, these are required to the call as argument list. What follows is an example of such manipulation:
+<note>
+AmbientTalk borrows its block syntax from languages like Smalltalk and Self, where the role of the curly braces is played by square brackets, i.e. ''[ args | body ]''. In AmbientTalk, the ''<parlist>'' is only used to denote parameters to the block, not also for temporary variables as in Smalltalk.
+</note>
+===== Keywords =====
+AmbientTalk supports keyworded messages, as in Smalltalk and Self. We have already seen some examples of keyword messages in the previous sections such as the ''foreach:in:'' call. Here is how to define a simple ''map:onto:'' function that takes a closure as input and applies the closure to each element of a table:
 <code>
->def square := { |x| x * x }
+>def map: clo onto: tbl {
->><closure:lambda>
+  def i := 0;
->square(3)
+  def mapped[tbl.length] {
->>9
+    clo(tbl[i:=i+1])
+  };
+}
+>> <closure:map:onto:>
 </code>
-===== Keywords =====
+It can be invoked as follows:
+<code>
+>map: square onto: [1,2,3]
+>>[1,4,9]
+</code>
-AmbientTalk supports keyword messages. We have already seen some examples of keyword messages in the previous sections such as the foreach structure. In AmbientTalk keywords are transformed by the parser into functions in the form:
+In AmbientTalk keyworded functions and function calls are actually syntactic sugar. They are transformed by the parser into their canonical equivalent. Hence:
 <code>
 def foo: arg1 bar: arg2 {...}
-def foo:bar:(arg1,arg2){..}
 </code>
+is transformed into:
+<code>
+def foo:bar:(arg1,arg2){...}
+</code>
+However, it is impossible to directly call or define a keyworded function in a canonical style.
 ===== Native Data Types =====
+The basic data types in AmbientTalk are numbers (i.e. integers), fractions (i.e. double precision floating point numbers), text (i.e. strings), tables (i.e. arrays) and booleans. In fact, instances of these data types are nothing but objects and as such, they respond to a variety of native methods. Objects will be the subject of the next chapter of the tutorial. This section explains the basic data types and includes some examples how to manipulate them. The complete list of methods can be found in the language reference.
-The basic types in AmbientTalk are numbers, fractions, text, tables and booleans. In fact, these data types are nothing but objects and as such, they respond to a variety of native methods. Objects will be the subject of the next chapter of the tutorial. This section explains the basic data types and includes some examples how to manipulate them. The complete list of methods can be found in the language reference.
 ==== Numerical data types ====
-AmbientTalk supports numbers and fractions which represent what other languages call integers and floating point numbers, respectively.
+AmbientTalk supports numbers and fractions which represent what other languages call integers and double precision floating point numbers, respectively.
-Note that since numerical types are objects in AmbientTalk, the traditional operators +,-,*,/, >, <, <=, >=, =, !=  are nothing but syntactic sugar for method invocations. Therefore,  //1+1// is internally translated into //1.+(1)//. Unary operators are just applications, e.g. //-5// is internally translated into //-(5)//. What follows are some basic examples of manipulations with numeric types:
+Note that since numerical types are objects in AmbientTalk, the traditional operators %%+,-,*,/, >, <, <=, >=, =, !=%%  are nothing but syntactic sugar for method invocations. Therefore,  ''1+1'' is internally translated into ''1.+(1)''. Unary operators are just applications, e.g. ''-5'' is internally translated into ''-(5)''. What follows are some basic examples of manipulations with numeric types:
 <code>
 >1.inc()
 >>2
->-1.abs()
->>1
 >1.cos()
 >>0.5403023058681398
@@ Line 271: / Line 291: @@
 >>2
 </code>
+Beware of the precedence rules for function application versus method invocation, which may lead to unexpected results, e.g.:
+<code>
+>-1.abs()
+>>-1
+</code>
+This code is interpreted as ''-(1.abs())'', hence the result.
 Numbers also support some useful iterator methods such as: