m.invoke() vs. m()

[Eric Jordan]

On Sat, 5 Dec 2009 20:45:02 +0100 Reinier Zwitserloot
<reinier at zwitserloot.com> wrote:
> Show me either how we can leave off 'invoke' without a sizable set of
> changes to the JLS, or how the burden of typing ".invoke" is sufficiently
> heavy for it to be worth abolishing even with the serious repercussions I
> showed in my previous post. I'm not at all interested in your style
> sensitivities.

Style sensitivities and removal of boilerplate are two of the primary
reasons that closures are being added, so they both need to be an
important part of the discussion.  Java doesn't need the dubious
distinction of having the most verbose closure invocation syntax of
any popular language, even if it is just by a few characters.  A
pointlessly verbose call syntax (from a user standpoint, I mean - no
programmer in his right mind would ever name a closure the same thing
as a method, as I'm sure everyone would agree, so cluttering the
syntax to allow for that possibility *is* pointless) will make it
painfully clear that this was "bolted on", and that will not be well
received.  I suspect it would become one of the primary examples
people point at to show how Java "got closures wrong."

As far as I can tell, you already agree that the only problem with
putting closures into both variable and method namespaces is that it
complicates the spec/implementation, not that there's any useful
reason to prefer the ".invoke" syntax.  As long as the changes are
feasible, and I seem to recall Neal indicating that they are, then I
don't really see what the problem is: millions of people will be using
the new syntax, surely a bit of work to do it "right" is worth
considering, no?

Is it your claim that the changes would not, in fact, be feasible to
implement?  In that case I'd be more inclined to let this one go
(you're right, it's not too much extra work to type ".invoke", even if
it is just line noise), but I'm getting the sense that you don't think
it's important enough to waste any energy on at all, which I strongly
disagree with.  This is a very visible and core component of closures,
and people will notice and criticize even the tiniest bit of bloat in
the syntax.

- Eric