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1 point by jimbokun 5893 days ago | link | parent

Excellent question. I think it deserves at least a blog-length answer which I hope to get to soon but first a couple thoughts here.

First, how many comments do you count in my code?

Second, I think my class definitions are pretty concise, as class definitions go.

Third, Paul said somewhere he doesn't use objects but does use hash tables filled with closures. That is precisely what my objects are. It just provides a brief syntax for defining them. If there is a way to define hash tables filled with closures with even greater brevity I'm all for it.

Fourth, Arc has opened the door to data in functional position and I find that a huge win over other Lisps. I think this should be available to those hacking with Arc, not just the language designer. Maybe another way of saying this is give hackers the ability to create new types and define what they do in functional position and defining "setters" that work with =. Objects are one paradigm for doing that but if there's a better, more Arc-ish way that would be awesome, too.

Fifth, I think this can be a pedagogically useful example to someone coming from, say, Python or Ruby to Arc. I believe that it can help bridge the understanding gap between objects on the one hand and first-class-functions + anonymous functions + closures on the other.

Well, that turned out longer than I meant to type right now, but I appreciate hearing others' thoughts.