> On Monday, March 31, 2003, at 12:30 PM, Paul wrote:
> > I started to suggest this myself, then realized that you might not want
> > it to return at all if the value is false.
>
> Yes, exactly:
>
> sub foo(...args...) {
> # We first attempt to get our return value the easy way.
> # If successful (the resulting value is defined and true),
> # just return that value.
>
> my $x = &baz(...args...);
> return $x if $x;
>
> # Still here? OK, then... we've got a lot more work
> # to do before we can return a reasonable value
>
> ...
> }
>
> I'm looking for a Perl6 way to say that oft-repeated, oft-chained
> two-line snippet up there without declaring the temporary variable.
> Using C<given> or C<when>, maybe?
The idea of a pronoun, something other than $_, has occasionally crossed
my mind. I haven't given it any real thought, but perhaps this is the
time.
return it if &baz(...args...);
Something that represents the "last evaluated expression"... or
something similar that is sufficiently DWIMmy. I'm trying to stay
away from punctuation variables for fear of repeating Perl 5's
mistakes.
C<it> might be just the thing... now all that has to be done is come
up with semantics. And decide whether it's a good idea.
Luke
