On 8/19/00 11:50 AM, Randal L. Schwartz wrote:
> I actually don't like the literal $ME. It usurps a variable name that
> has been legal for customer use in prior Perls. Why not use something
> more "system-belonging" like %_ or even $_? In fact, "self" in $_ and
> "args" in @_ has a nice symmetry. Or we make $_->{self} be self, and
> maybe $_->{context} be the calling context, etc etc?
I don't like $ME either, but my alternative is probably even more
blasphemous: use $self. "It usurps a variable name that has been legal for
customer use in prior Perls!" you re-exclaim. Not if it only appears in a
new-to-Perl-6 construct like:
method get_polite_age(<neat stuff could go here>)
{
return ($self->age >= 40) ? 39 : $self->age;
}
No one's ever written a Perl "method" before Perl 6, only Perl 4 and 5
"sub"routines, so no one gets squished. It's lowercase because it looks
nicer, and because it'll be typed constantly. Yes, special/magic vars have
traditionally been punctuation-based ($_, $/, $") or all-caps ($ARGV,
$AUTOLOAD). $self is a new Perl 6 convention: "Implicit variables in
object/class methods are all lowercase and meaningfully named."
But wait, it gets worse: I'd even be happy with the bareword "self"
method get_polite_age(<neat stuff could go here>)
{
return (self->age >= 40) ? 39 : self->age;
}
I know, I'm obviously crazy as a loon. You may escort me to Perl culture
prison now... ;)
-John
