From: jo9100@... Date: 2019-06-02T03:17:17+00:00 Subject: [ruby-core:92925] [Ruby trunk Misc#15723] Reconsider numbered parameters Issue #15723 has been updated by joallard (Jonathan Allard). Seems to me like there's some kind of consensus about making this feature available for one argument only. I would echo the desire to go with `it`, in line with Ruby's principles of elegance. It seems most objections that have been raised so far about `it` were more about the technical hurdles (it breaks compatbility) rather than design, suggesting that It would be a good thing if it were not breaking. Pragmas have been discussed, though the format of pragmas seems out of scope for this ticket. I'm thinking the feature would be used a few times per file, so as a coder, I wouldn't see the value of adding a magic comment at the top of the file only for the sake of using it once. If project-wide pragmas could do that, then yes. That defeats the purpose of supporting magic comments for this in a minor version, but I might be wrong. For these reasons, I would schedule `it` as a breaking change for Ruby 3.0. ---------------------------------------- Misc #15723: Reconsider numbered parameters https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/15723#change-78300 * Author: sos4nt (Stefan Sch����ler) * Status: Feedback * Priority: Normal * Assignee: matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto) ---------------------------------------- I just learned that *numbered parameters* have been merged into Ruby 2.7.0dev. For readers not familiar with this feature: it allows you to reference block arguments solely by their *index*, e.g. ```ruby [1, 2, 3].each { |i| puts i } # can become [1, 2, 3].each { puts @1 } ``` I have an issue with this new feature: I think **it encourages sloppy programming** and results in **hard to read code**. --- The [original proposal](https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/4475) was to include a special variable (or keyword) with a **readable name**, something like: ```ruby [1, 2, 3].each { puts it } # or [1, 2, 3].each { puts this } ``` Granted, that looks quite lovely and it actually speaks to me ��� I can *understand* the code. And it fits Ruby: (quoting the website) > [Ruby] has an elegant syntax that is natural to read and easy to write. But the proposed `it` / `this` has limited application. It's only useful when dealing with a single argument. You can't have multiple `it`-s or `this`-es. That's why `@1`, `@2`, `@3` etc. were chosen instead. However, limiting the usefulness to a single argument isn't bad at at. In fact, a single argument seem to be the limit of what makes sense: ``` h = Hash.new { |hash, key| hash[key] = "Go Fish: #{key}" } # vs h = Hash.new { @1[@2] = "Go Fish: #{@2}" } ``` Who wants to read the latter? That looks like an archaic bash program (no offense). We already discourage Perl style `$`-references: (from [The Ruby Style Guide](https://github.com/rubocop-hq/ruby-style-guide#no-perl-regexp-last-matchers)) > Don't use the cryptic Perl-legacy variables denoting last regexp group matches (`$1`, `$2`, etc). Use `Regexp.last_match(n)` instead. I don't see how our code can benefit from adding `@1` and `@2`. Naming a parameter isn't useless ��� it gives context. With more than one parameter, naming is crucial. And yes, naming is hard. But avoiding proper naming by using indices is the wrong way. So please reconsider numbered parameters. Use a readable named variable (or keyword) to refer to the first argument or ditch the feature entirely. ---Files-------------------------------- implicit-param.diff (20 KB) -- https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/ Unsubscribe: