function bodies extend as far as possible **
I see. So, a function body would be just like an if-block or loop
body. One full statement, or a block. There is precedent for that in
the rest of the language. So, then, this case:
x = function () y; z
would be:
x = function () { return y }; z
Is that a trick question?-) Your interpretation is one plausible
extrapolation of this maximal munch rule to cover javascript's
function body blocks but it might not be the only one.
In particular, you have chosen to combine maximal munch for
expressions with minimal munch for statement lists, while one
might want to apply maximal munch to both expressions and
statement lists (if the braces around function bodies were to
be made optional). One would need to look at the design options
in detail before making a decision.
Javascript's handling of the statement/expression divide could
do with some work, e.g., we want to be able to use functions to
build control abstractions; but javascript has chosen to make
assignments into expressions, and expressions into statements;
javascript statements/blocks are currently not expressions, and
if we tried to correct that, we'd run into the question of what to
do with assignments (pass them around or execute them).
In the meantime, the only way to abstract over blocks is to
wrap them in functions, so if we wanted to emulate conditional
statements with conditional expressions (or other use cases
where we want to work with blocks as values), we'd write
something like this:
(condition ? function() { ..blockA.. } : function() { ..blockB.. })();
The use of function wrappers to delay execution is yet another
motivation for concise (but readable and unambiguous) function
syntax.
Claus
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