October 04, 2006 semantics of keyword lazy | ||||
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From the documentation: Lazy arguments are evaluated not when the function is called, but when the parameter is evaluated within the function. First to note, that this is a circular definition without any fixed point to start from: a lazy argument is evaluated, when it is evaluated :-( Maybe Walter meant something like this: With the exception of lazy parameters all actual parameters are passed evaluated to the function they belong to. But this does not help for lazy parameters: when the hell are they evaluated? "Within the function" Walters says. But what does this mean if the calling function is recursive or combined with parameters that are not lazy evaluated? Example: int ack( lazy bool b, int x, lazy int y){ if( x == 0 ) if( b) return y+1; else if( y == 0) return ack( b, x-1, 1); else return ack( b, x-1, ack( b, x, y-1)); } If Walter wanted to express, that lazy parameters must be evaluated in the calling function, then I understand, but I doubt, that this concept is that useful. If on the other hand lazy parameters can be passed down through function hierarchies one should be able to protect them from accidental evaluation until they reach the target point of their evaluation, i.e. something like if( unlazy b) return y+1; should be possible and ack( x, b, y-1) should show up as an error because the target is not notified as ack( x, unlazy b, y-1) |
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