Thread overview
Confusion with anonymous functions and method overloads
May 21, 2016
pineapple
May 21, 2016
Anonymouse
May 21, 2016
ag0aep6g
May 21, 2016
I wrote a pair of methods that looked like this:

    void clean(in void delegate(in T value) func){
        this.clean((in T values[]) => {
            foreach(value; values) func(value);
        });
    }
    void clean(in void delegate(in T values[]) func){
        ...
    }

I was getting a compile error on the second line of that example:

E:\Dropbox\Projects\d\mach\misc\refcounter.d(63): Error: none of the overloads of 'clean' are callable using argument types (void delegate() @system delegate(const(uint[]) values) pure nothrow @safe), candidates are:
E:\Dropbox\Projects\d\mach\misc\refcounter.d(62):        mach.misc.refcounter.RefCounter!uint.RefCounter.clean(const(void delegate(const(uint))) func)
E:\Dropbox\Projects\d\mach\misc\refcounter.d(67):        mach.misc.refcounter.RefCounter!uint.RefCounter.clean(const(void delegate(const(uint[]))) func)
E:\Dropbox\Projects\d\mach\misc\refcounter.d(109): Error: template instance mach.misc.refcounter.RefCounter!uint error instantiating

When I got rid of the "=>" and changed the first method to this, it compiled without issue:

    void clean(in void delegate(in T value) func){
        this.clean((in T values[]){
            foreach(value; values) func(value);
        });
    }

But I don't understand why. Could someone clarify the difference between the two?

Thanks!
May 21, 2016
On Saturday, 21 May 2016 at 14:39:59 UTC, pineapple wrote:
>     void clean(in void delegate(in T value) func){
>         this.clean((in T values[]) => {
>             foreach(value; values) func(value);
>         });

This doesn't do what you think it does. It passes a lambda that *returns* that foreach function (that returns void).

>     void clean(in void delegate(in T value) func){
>         this.clean((in T values[]){
>             foreach(value; values) func(value);
>         });
>     }

This passes a lambda (that returns void).

See https://dpaste.dzfl.pl/f93b9c0c8426
May 21, 2016
On 05/21/2016 04:39 PM, pineapple wrote:
> But I don't understand why. Could someone clarify the difference between
> the two?

Common mistake, because other languages (e.g. C#) use similar but different syntax.

The `foo => bar` syntax doesn't use braces. When you add braces around bar, that's a delegate that runs bar when called.

I.e., this:
    foo => bar
is equivalent to this:
    (foo) {return bar;}

And this:
    foo => {bar;}
is equivalent to this:
    (foo) {return () {bar;};}