Ruby » Ruby master

Feature #6594

Updated by nobu (Nobuyoshi Nakada) over 9 years ago

=begin 
 I know the developers meeting is coming up so I'd like to get a few ideas I've had sitting in the wings out in the air before then. 

 One the more useful is the idea of integrating Functors directly into the language. "Functor" is the term I use for "higher-order function". 

 I blogged about this idea and you can read it here: http://trans.github.com/2011-09-07-ruby-heart-higher-order-functions/ 

 The super short version is this: 

 ~~~ruby 
 

   def f => op, arg 
   
     arg.send(__op__, arg) 
 
   end 

 

   f + 3    #=> 6 
 
   f * 3    #=> 9 
 ~~~ 

 Another example: 

 ~~~ruby 
 

   class String 
   
     def file => op, *args 
     
       File.send(__op__, self, *args) 
     end 
   end 
 end 

 

   "README.rdoc".file.mtime    #=> 2012-06-14 12:34:45 -0400 
 ~~~ 

 I'm using `=>` as means of indicating a higher-order function. Of course another syntax could be used if this won't fly. The important thing is the idea of higher-order functions being integrated directly into the language. Doing this without that integration requires the creation of an intermediate object for each call which is very inefficient. 
 =end 

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