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lvalue subs: parameters, explicit assignment, and wantarray() changes
Maintainer: Nathan Torkington <gnat@frii.com> Date: 16 Aug 2000 Last Modified: 6 Sep 2000 Mailing List: perl6-language-subs@perl.org Number: 118 Version: 2 Status: Retired
RFC 107 proposed that lvalue subs should receive their rvalues as subroutine arguments. I counter-propose that lvalue subs should receive their rvalues as lexical variables named in a prototype associated with the :lvalue modifier. The lvalue-ness of a given subroutine call should be discoverable with the wantarray() function (or its replacement), and the assignment behaviour should be written in the subroutine rather than implicitly done by Perl.
Subroutines may be called with multiple values. Lvalue subroutines may be assigned multiple values. Simple passing on the argument list conflates the two:
foo(@args) = @rvalues;
would be identical to:
foo(@args, @rvalues);
Perl's list flattening would prevent the subroutine from knowing where one began and the other ended. Better would be if the rvalue were passed as a last or first argument, making it equivalent to:
foo(\@rvalues, @args);
or
foo(@args, \@rvalues);
I don't think this is appropriate, either. Perl's OO tried implicit arguments, and now we're rebelling against them. Better would be to have the values magically appear as lexicals in the subroutine.
To the language it would appear as a prototype associated with the :lvalue modifier:
sub foo (@) : lvalue ($first, $second, @rest) {
print "My first rvalue is $first\n";
print "My second rvalue is $second\n";
print "The rest of my rvalues are: @rest\n";
print "My arguments are: @_\n";
}
This would change the perl5 meaning of lvalue subroutines. Currently you must have the lvalue as the last value before the return, and the assignment is implicitly done by Perl. I advocate making it explicit:
# this is perl5
sub foo :lvalue {
$variable; # am I rvalue or lvalue sub? I don't know
}
foo = 5; # implicitly $variable = 5
I would now have this as:
# this is perl6
sub foo :lvalue ($new) {
$variable = $new;
}
Then the wantarray() replacement, whatever it may be, can be used to say whether you're lvalue or rvalue and what to do. That makes an lvalue sub more like the STORE method of a tied variable, where you can decide whether the storage is acceptable:
# still perl6
sub foo :lvalue ($new) {
if (want("lvalue")) {
if ($new >= 0) {
$variable = $new;
} else {
croak "Attempt to store negative number in foo";
}
} else {
return $variable;
}
}
Straightforward. Requires changes to:
Permit named function prototypes. On the lvalue modifier.
Identify lvalue context.
This RFC has been retired as an historical artifiact of discussion.
RFC 107: lvalue subs should receive the rvalue as an argument
RFC 57: Subroutine prototypes and parameters
RFC 21: Replace wantarray with a generic want function