Functions
All operations in GOO are functions.
Functions accept zero or more arguments, and return one value. The
parameter list of the function describes the number and types of the
arguments that the function accepts, and the type of the value it returns.
There are two kinds of functions, methods and generic functions. Both
are invoked in the same way. The caller does not need to know whether
the function it is calling is a method or a generic function.
A method is the basic unit of executable code. A method accepts a
number of arguments, creates local bindings for them, executes an
implicit body in the scope of these bindings, and then returns a
value.
A generic function contains a number of methods. When a generic
function is called, it compares the arguments it received with the
parameter lists of the methods it contains. It selects the most
appropriate method and invokes it on the arguments. This technique of
method dispatch is the basic mechanism of polymorphism in GOO.
All GOO functions are objects, instances of <fun>. Generic
functions are instances of <gen> and methods are instances of
<met>.
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<fun> | (<any>) | C |
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fun-name | (x|<fun> => (t? <sym>)) | P |
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| returns the name of function or false if unavailable. | |
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fun-names | (x|<fun> => <lst>) | P |
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| returns the names of parameters of x or () if unavailable. | |
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fun-specs | (x|<fun> => <lst>) | P |
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| returns the specializers of x. | |
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fun-nary? | (x|<fun> => <log>) | P |
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| returns true iff the function takes optional arguments. | |
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fun-arity | (x|<fun> => <int>) | P |
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| returns x's number of required arguments. | |
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fun-val | (x|<fun> => <type>) | P |
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| returns the return type of x. | |
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FUN | (FUN ,sig ,@body) | S |
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| creates an anonymous method with signature ,sig and when called
evaluates ,@body as (SEQ ,@body) (cf. Scheme's
LAMBDA). The following a few example functions and their application:
((fun (x) x) 1) ==> 1
((fun (x|<int> => <int>) x) 2) ==> 2
((fun (x|...) x) 1 2 3) ==> (1 2 3)
((fun (x y|...) y) 1 2 3) ==> (2 3)
((fun (x => (tup <int>))) (tup x)) 1) $ == $ (tup 1)
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{ ... } | { [ ,@sig '\' ] ,@body } | S |
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| FUN abbreviation == (fun (,@sig) ,@body).
This is particularly useful for lightweight thunks
(e.g., {(+ x 1)} == (fun () (+ x 1))). N.B. this
is an experimental syntax and might change in the future. | |
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where
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,sig | == (,@params) | (,@params => ,ret) | L |
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,params | == (,@vars [(,name '...')]) | L |
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| where parameter lists can include an optional nary parameter which
binds to all arguments beyond required arguments. | |
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,ret | == ,var | (TUP ,@ret-vars) | L |
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| with TUP turning into corresponding t*
function return type. | |
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,ret-var | == (,name ,type) | L |
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LOC | (LOC ((,name ,sig ,@fbody)) ,@body) | S |
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| ==
(LET ((,name #f) ...)
(SET ,name (fun ,sig ,@fbody)) ...
,@body)
LOC introduces local functions that can recursively call each other
(cf. Scheme's LETREC).
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DF | (DF ,name ,sig ,@body) | S |
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| == (DV ,name (FUN ,sig ,@body)) followed by
setting the function's name. | |
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zipped | (x|<fun> => <fun>) | G |
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| == (fun (y|...) (app x y)). This is useful when
mapping over zipped multiple sequences (e.g., (map (zipped +)
(zip '(1 2) '(2 3))). | |
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OP | (OP ,op-arg ...) | S |
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| creates an anonymous function with implicitly defined
arguments, where ,op-arg is either an implicit required parameter
"_" or rest parameter "..." or an s-expression
potentially containing further op-args. The required parameters are found
ordered according to a depth-first walk of the op-args.
The following are typical examples:
((op _) 1) ==> 1
((op 2) 1) ==> 2
((op + _ 1) 3) ==> 4
((op lst ... 1) 3 2) ==> (3 2 1)
((op tail (tail _)) '(1 2 3)) ==> (3)
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app | (f|<fun> args|... => <any>) | G |
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| calls f with arguments
(cat (sub args 0 (- (len args) 2)) (elt args (- (len args) 1))). | |
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