anonymous method call

[Remi Forax]

On 06/01/2013 08:10 PM, Marc Petit-Huguenin wrote:
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> Thanks Brian and Rémi for the response to my previous question.
>
> Now that we established my lack of knowledge about the lambda type inference,
> I have another question, but please note that it is not a suggestion for
> improvement, merely a question about the limits of what would be possible.
>
> A functional interface has only one abstract method, so is there any reason it
> would not be possible to use an anonymous call to this method?
>
> For example:
>
> IntUnaryOperator operator = f -> f + 1;
>
> and instead of
>
> int i = operator.applyAsInt(1);
>
> being able to do
>
> int i = operator(1);
>
>
> Thanks.

It's possible to implement that but it exhibits a nasty property given 
the way Java scope works.

In Java, the scope that contains local variables and the one that 
contains method calls are separated,
when the compiler see

   int i = operator(1);

it knowns that this is a method call, and it will not check if there is 
a local variable named 'operator'.

So to support the new syntax and still be able to compile old code, the 
compiler has to first check
if a method is available and then check if a local variable exist if no 
method was found.

This rule is awful because it means that if you add a method in a class 
(or worst in a super class)
you may broke an already existing code because you introduce a method 
that will be used instead
of calling the lambda.

so this syntax was rejected by the Expert Group :)

cheers,
Rémi

>
> - -- 
> Marc Petit-Huguenin
> Email: marc at petit-huguenin.org
> Blog: http://blog.marc.petit-huguenin.org
> Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/petithug
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