[Pdx-pm] the quest for return_if

[benh]

[colin]humm... goto looks like I could be worth a stab.

[tom] the way that I was thinking of things is that it would just be
shorthand for:

vaule_of_function = function();
return value_of_function if defined value_of_function;

so that I would not have to write things twice, also save me a line,
or at least thats what started all of this.

as for what would happen, the same as the normal return val if
defined(val); it would return at that point or would continue to the
next line. So your extra_tricky example would looks like it would
always end up with 'ANOTHER_ONE' instead of the 'SOME_EXPR' like I was
thinking, or would the last end the block that it was called from...
if so then I guess I'm really just looking to build a last_if.

any who thanks so much for the post, I'll go a poking at the code see
what comes up.



On 6/26/07, Tom Phoenix <rootbeer at redcat.com> wrote:
> On 6/26/07, benh <ben.hengst at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Ideally I would love to do this:
> >
> > sub return_if {
> >    my ($eval, $value) = @_;
> >    $value = $eval if !defined($value);
> >    {FROM_THE_POINT_WHERE_I_WAS_CALLED}->return $value if defined($eval);
> > }
>
> How would you use such a thing? Like this?
>
>   &return_if( SOME_EXPR );
>
>   &return_if( SOME_EXPR, EXPR_TO_RETURN );
>
> I get your idea that the sub makes the calling sub return. (What does
> it do if it wasn't called from a sub? Crash?)
>
> I'm thinking you really want something like this:
>
>   return(SOME_EXPR err ANOTHER);
>
> Where err is the new err operator rumored to become available
> somewhere around 5.10, but certainly by Perl 6. It returns its left
> operand if that's defined, else its right operand.
>
> But it's still not quite what you're looking for, is it? There's
> probably some hocus pocus possible with a module to muck with Perl's
> return stack, but I can't recommend that. But I think what you're
> asking for is a new control structure, so it's a tall order.
>
> Still, you might be able to do something. Although this trick feels
> about as bad as using goto.
>
> sub return_if {
>   my($value) = shift;
>   return unless defined $value;
>   $value = shift if @_;  # uses second parameter, if given
>   our $returnable = $value;  # set the return value
>   last;  # "return" it after the calling loop block
> }
>
> sub extra_tricky {
>   our $returnable = undef;
>   {
>     &return_if( SOME_EXPR );
>     &return_if( ANOTHER_ONE );
>   }
>   ## last comes here ##
>   return $returnable if $returnable;
>   return 'default result';
> }
>
> I believe most recent releases of Perl can warn you against this. With
> good reason.
>
> Good luck with it!
>
> --Tom Phoenix
>


-- 
benh~