[REQUEST] Add 'With…End With' Statement in Monkey2 language

[seyhajinParticipant]

Hi,

Can you add the statement “With … End With” for the language Monkey2?
It can be a good addition to the language, moreover, it allows to clarify the source code and avoids redundancies. Especially with objects that contains other objects, it can be very long …
I have no idea about the work that it represents, I let you decide.

Here is an example of an implementation in Visual Basic: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/visual-basic/language-reference/statements/with-end-with-statement

Example VB Code :

Visual Basic .NET

Dim theWindow As New EntryWindow With theWindow With .InfoLabel .Content = "This is a message." .Foreground = Brushes.DarkSeaGreen .Background = Brushes.LightYellow End With .Title = "The Form Title" .Show() End With

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Dim theWindow As New EntryWindow   With theWindow     With .InfoLabel         .Content = "This is a message."         .Foreground = Brushes.DarkSeaGreen         .Background = Brushes.LightYellow     End With       .Title = "The Form Title"     .Show() End With

Translate to Monkey2

Monkey

Local theWindow:= New EntryWindow With theWindow With .InfoLabel .Content = "This is a message." .Foreground = Brushes.DarkSeaGreen .Background = Brushes.LightYellow End With '// 'With' keyword optional for closing block .Title = "The Form Title" .Show() End With

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Local theWindow:= New EntryWindow   With theWindow     With .InfoLabel         .Content = "This is a message."         .Foreground = Brushes.DarkSeaGreen         .Background = Brushes.LightYellow     End With '// 'With' keyword optional for closing block       .Title = "The Form Title"     .Show() End With

[Mark SiblyKeymaster]

Still can’t decide how much/if I like that.

It doesn’t help that the example doesn’t make any sense (where is InfoLabel declared?) but I can’t really see myself using it, I guess if I had to initialize a massive struct or something…

Any other opinions on this? I think Amiga blitz actually had something like this, but it looks like it didn’t have much of an impact on me!

[scurtyParticipant]

Ahh I see it’s just so you don’t have to reference the class you’re messing with over and over as far as I can tell.

Monkey

' so instead of theWindow.Property = "this" theWindow.Property1 = "that" theWindow.Property2 = "and this" ' it would be With theWindow .Property = "this" .Property1 = "that" .Property2 = "and this" End

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' so instead of theWindow.Property = "this" theWindow.Property1 = "that" theWindow.Property2 = "and this"   ' it would be With theWindow     .Property = "this"     .Property1 = "that"     .Property2 = "and this" End

GML from Game Maker as something like this only the syntax is a bit changed, it allows you to edit collections of objects by using “all” or a single parent class.

Monkey

' How it might look in Monkey (Entities would be a collection of normal Entities) With Entities.All() .Position = New Vec2f(0.0, 0.0) .Material = ... ' Blah blah End ' Although this could be done with a loop, or by copying an object from the heap

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' How it might look in Monkey (Entities would be a collection of normal Entities) With Entities.All()     .Position = New Vec2f(0.0, 0.0)     .Material = ... ' Blah blah End   ' Although this could be done with a loop, or by copying an object from the heap

This would be useful for some but I personally don’t really think it would be too necessary.
Very cool concept though!

[seyhajinParticipant]

“With statement” work with ObjectClass expression only (class if you want use static function/variable or instance of class) and use “.” (dot) or “->”, if object’s pointer, in the block to avoid rewrite ObjectClass.

Syntax :

Monkey

With ObjectExpression [Statements] End

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With ObjectExpression     [Statements] End

[ObjectExpression] : Required. An expression that evaluates to an object or class/struct
[Statements] : Optional. One or more statements between ‘With’ and ‘End’ that may refer to members of an objects that’s produced by the evaluation of [ObjectExpression]
[End] : Required. Terminates the definition of the “With” block

Monkey2 example :

Monkey

Class Customer Field Name:String Field City:String Field URL:String Field Comments:=New List<String> End Function AddCustomer() '// without 'With statement' Local theCustomer:= New Customer theCustomer.Name = "John Doe" theCustomer.City = "Unknown" theCustomer.URL = "http://www.john.doe" theCustomer.Comments.Add( "First comment." ) theCustomer.Comments.Add( "Second comment." ) If theCustomer.City = "" Then theCustomer.City = "Earth" End Function AddCustomer() '// with 'With statement' Local theCustomer:= New Customer With theCustomer '// Each 'With' block executes a series of statement one a single object .Name = "John Doe" .City = "Unknown" .URL = "http://www.john.doe" With .Comments '// Within the nested 'With' statement, the syntax refer to the inner object .Add( "First comment." ) .Add( "Second comment." ) End If .City = "" Then .City = "Earth" '// If statement End End

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Class Customer     Field Name:String     Field City:String     Field URL:String     Field Comments:=New List<String> End   Function AddCustomer() '// without 'With statement'     Local theCustomer:= New Customer       theCustomer.Name = "John Doe"     theCustomer.City = "Unknown"     theCustomer.URL = "http://www.john.doe"       theCustomer.Comments.Add( "First comment." )     theCustomer.Comments.Add( "Second comment." )       If theCustomer.City = "" Then theCustomer.City = "Earth" End   Function AddCustomer() '// with 'With statement'     Local theCustomer:= New Customer       With theCustomer '// Each 'With' block executes a series of statement one a single object         .Name = "John Doe"         .City = "Unknown"         .URL = "http://www.john.doe"           With .Comments '// Within the nested 'With' statement, the syntax refer to the inner object             .Add( "First comment." )             .Add( "Second comment." )         End           If .City = "" Then .City = "Earth" '// If statement     End End

[therevillsParticipant]

Isnt this the same and less verbose?

Monkey

[crayon-5cba9541a4c4e250335641 inline="true" ]Local theWindow:= New EntryWindow theWindow.InfoLabel.Content = "This is a message." theWindow.InfoLabel.Foreground = Brushes.DarkSeaGreen theWindow.InfoLabel.Background = Brushes.LightYellow theWindow.Title = "The Form Title" theWindow.Show()

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[crayon-5cba9541a4c4e250335641 inline="true" ]Local theWindow:= New EntryWindow theWindow.InfoLabel.Content = "This is a message." theWindow.InfoLabel.Foreground = Brushes.DarkSeaGreen theWindow.InfoLabel.Background = Brushes.LightYellow theWindow.Title = "The Form Title" theWindow.Show()

[/crayon]

[seyhajinParticipant]

Obviously this has a real interest if there are many members called for the same object, or calling the members of these nested objects. In use it will always be much less verbose.

[AdamStrangeParticipant]

mmm, good concept.

Really bad code example though.

This is a much better example of using that class concept:

Monkey

Class Customer Field _name:String Field _city:String Field _url:String Field _comments:=New List<String> method AddCustomer( name:string, city:string, url:string ) _name = name _url = url If city = "" Then _city = "Earth" Else _city = city End If _comments.Add( "First comment." ) _cComments.Add( "Second comment." ) End method End Class

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Class Customer Field _name:String Field _city:String Field _url:String Field _comments:=New List<String>      method AddCustomer( name:string, city:string, url:string ) _name = name _url = url       If city = "" Then      _city = "Earth"     Else _city = city End If _comments.Add( "First comment." ) _cComments.Add( "Second comment." ) End method End Class

 

You don’t need to use ‘with’

Just initialise with new and use add. there is no need to have functions cluttering up everything…

[seyhajinParticipant]

The right subject is to request to integrate “With” statement in Monkey2 language, no how to use an equivalent.

Do you think this is possible to add this in Monkey2 simply?

[Simon ArmstrongParticipant]

Having two ways of doing something makes a language more complicated not simpler.

If you adopt use of methods for modifying objects and avoid any reference of fields from outside an objects implementation the programs you create will be easier to expand and maintain.

[seyhajinParticipant]

The “With … End” statement is considered as a “helper” to have a clearer and less verbose source code, neither more nor less, it does not modify the control structures. A bit like the use of “Alias” which allows to “simplify” a type of variable or function. For example, you can write “Rect <Float>” to “Rectf” in your “Rect <Float>” and with “Alias”, and nothing prevents you from writing “Rect <Float>” elsewhere of your application. There are two different ways to use it but quite compatible.

1. You define an “ObjectClass” with “With” keyword as the current “Object” to use in the block
2. Inside the “With” block, you use (dot) “.MyMethod or .MyProperty” directly without rewriting your declared “With”
3. “End”

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