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Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2021 13:00:04 -0500
To: "php internals" <internals@lists.php.net>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [Vote] Partial Function Application
From: larry@garfieldtech.com ("Larry Garfield")

On Tue, Jun 29, 2021, at 12:30 PM, Guilliam Xavier wrote:
> (Extracted from the "Pipe Operator, take 2" thread)
>=20
> On Tue, Jun 29, 2021 at 12:54 AM Larry Garfield <larry@garfieldtech.co=
m>
> wrote:
>=20
> > On Mon, Jun 28, 2021, at 5:30 PM, Olle H=C3=A4rstedt wrote:
> >
> > > Would a slimmed down version have more support? How about removing=
 the
> > > variadic operator, and let the user manually add the lambda for th=
ose
> > > cases?
> >
> > I talked with Joe about this, and the answer is no.  Most of the
> > complexity comes from the initial "this is a function call, oops no,=
 it's a
> > partial call so we switch to doing that instead", which ends up inte=
racting
> > with the engine in a lot of different places.
> >
>=20
> Are you saying that the implementation complexity is mainly due to cho=
sing
> a syntax that looks like a function call?
> If yes, is it also the case for the "First-class callable syntax" RFC?=

> And does it mean that a different syntax (e.g. with a prefix operator)=

> would result in a simpler implementation?

From what I understand from Joe, most of the complexity comes from produ=
cing something that isn't a closure but shares the same interface as a c=
losure (at least that's what it would be in PHP terms), which then requi=
res lots of special handling throughout the engine.  I don't fully under=
stand it all myself, TBH.

I've been pondering if a completely different approach with a prefix sym=
bol would be able to be less complex, and the simple answer is I have ab=
solutely no idea.  But we are running low on symbols...

--Larry Garfield