Arbitrary abbreviations in phobos considered ridiculous

[H. S. Teoh]

On Thu, Mar 08, 2012 at 11:54:21PM +0100, deadalnix wrote:
> Le 08/03/2012 07:15, Jonathan M Davis a écrit :
> >On Thursday, March 08, 2012 00:52:57 Nick Sabalausky wrote:
> >>"Ary Manzana"<ary at esperanto.org.ar>  wrote in message
> >>news:jj94mb$1i7v$1 at digitalmars.com...
[...]
> >>parent_ids =
> >>     results
> >>     .map{|x| x['_source']['parent_ids']}
> >>     .flatten.uniq
> >>     .compactHash[
> >>         Site.find(parent_ids).map{|x| [x.id, x]}
> >>     ]
> >
> >I actually tend to find code like that hard to read, because all of
> >the operations are inside out in comparison to normal. But since the
> >only difference between his example and yours is the formatting, I
> >agree yours is easier to read. Still, I'd much prefer if such code
> >didn't use UFCS, since I find it much harder to read that way. It's
> >just so backwards.
> >
> >- Jonathan M Davis
> 
> You got tricked by your experience. You are used to read backward.
> The function are written in the order they are executed in the example
> above. This isn't very traditional, and may be the reverse order of
> what people expect due to previous experience, but definitively is the
> forward way.

Yeah, modern function composition syntax is totally backwards. This is
most obvious when you use the f∘g notation in math. It means f(g), that
is, apply g first, then f. So if you use this notation in functional
programming, writing something like a∘b∘c∘d∘e∘f means run steps a..f
*backwards*. Written on multiple lines, it totally goes against the flow
of control. It's the programming language version of top-posting. ;-)

Unfortunately, the alternative is reverse Polish notation, which isn't
all that readable either.

Chained object notation is a good compromise, which happens quite often
when you use jQuery:

	$(selector)
		.html(htmlcode)
		.add(more_nodes)
		.css(some_styles)
		.filter(unwanted_nodes)
		.click(click_handler)
		.show();

Writing this in function composition order would cause an instant
quantum leap in unreadability.


T

-- 
I see that you JS got Bach.