Inline member visibility

[coconParticipant]

Wouldn’t this be nice?

I think that it would be nice to set member visibility inline, since you can compact the code better, save some lines.

Monkey

Class Test Public <--- Parser: "OK, now I will consider the following as public." ' although by default visibility is public you get the idea. Method Public1() End Method Public2() End Protected <-- Parser: "OK" Method Protected1() End Private Field ID:Int ' <--- Parser: What an explicit member visibility? OK, this is private". Private Field Name:String ' <--- Parser: Same as well. Method Protected2() ' <-- Parser: Sorry pal, when you set explicit member visibility you cancel the active mode, End ' now I will fallback to default mode which is Public. End

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Class Test Public <--- Parser: "OK, now I will consider the following as public." ' although by default visibility is public you get the idea. Method Public1() End Method Public2() End   Protected <-- Parser: "OK" Method Protected1() End Private Field ID:Int ' <--- Parser: What an explicit member visibility? OK, this is private". Private Field Name:String ' <--- Parser: Same as well.   Method Protected2() ' <-- Parser: Sorry pal, when you set explicit member visibility you cancel the active mode, End ' now I will fallback to default mode which is Public. End

 

A typical use case:

Monkey

Class Test Private Field _name:String Public Property Name:String() Return _name End Private Method Private1() End Private Method Private2() End Public Method Public1() End Public Method Public2() End End Function Main() Local t:=New Test() t.Test() End

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Class Test Private Field _name:String Public Property Name:String() Return _name End Private Method Private1() End Private Method Private2() End Public Method Public1() End Public Method Public2() End End   Function Main() Local t:=New Test() t.Test() End

[codifiesParticipant]

I *had* thought sticking private into a class body would make the following methods private but it seems to do nothing silently public private and protected are all very useful for library writers…

[Mark SiblyKeymaster]

I *had* thought sticking private into a class body would make the following methods private

It does – but stuff in a file can ALWAYS see stuff in the same file which may be tripping you up. Kind of a budget ‘friend’ mechanism, but one I like so it’s staying even if you hate it! ‘D does it too’ is my usual excuse…

As for…

Private Method MyPrivateMethod()
End

…I actually quite like this, the only question being does it change the ‘default’ access to private too? IMO, it shouldn’t, but I can’t give any particularly logical reason why, so I’ve been reluctant to add it. I do want it sometimes though…

[codifiesParticipant]

… ah the penny drops, I’ll make a comment in the online docs if I can find somewhere appropriate…

[coconParticipant]

I actually quite like this, the only question being does it change the ‘default’ access to private too?

 

I did some code uses cases, but it won’t make a point posting them. For example in C++ you declare visibility regions and place the members there accordingly. In C# you get by default an X class scope for members, any other type of visibility must be declared explicitly at any time.

 

Monkey currently uses the concept of C++, the bottom line is that this change must come as a “line-saver” and not as a “concept-changer”.

 

I have created a matrix of possibilities in Spreadsheets and here is what I found. It looks like #1 is the winner:

Inline Scope Changes Default Scope The default behaviour with the only benefit of saving lines. The default behaviour with the additional inline benefit. Inline Scope Does Not Change Default Scope The default behaviour with the benefit of not affecting the global scope at all. This will introduce two visibility scopes, the inline one and the default one, might cause ambiguity. Inline Scope Resets Default Scope This will reset the default behaviour back to the default public. Same as 2, but with three scopes at the same time: The default, the one user set, the inline one.

1 2 3 4 5

Inline Scope    Changes Default Scope             The default behaviour with the only benefit of saving lines.                          The default behaviour with the additional inline benefit. Inline Scope    Does Not Change Default Scope     The default behaviour with the benefit of not affecting the global scope at all.      This will introduce two visibility scopes, the inline one and the default one, might cause ambiguity. Inline Scope    Resets Default Scope              This will reset the default behaviour back to the default public.                     Same as 2, but with three scopes at the same time: The default, the one user set, the inline one.

[Author]

Posts