Programming Languages

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What are some pros and cons of a scope keyword? (lemmy.basedcount.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/programming_languages

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

In something like C++ you could create a scope like so:

{
	// Do something neat here
}

I was wondering about having or maybe even requiring a scope keyword, which might look like this:

scope
{
	// Do something neat here
}

This seems even more relevant in an indentation sensitive language like python:

scope:
	pass

Interested to hear any opinions, TIA.

top 7 comments

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[–] RonSijm 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

A scope is already implied by brackets. For example, a namespace, class, method, if block are also scopes.

So I don't really see why you'd want an explicit scope keyword inside methods, when all other scopes are implied... That just creates an inconsistency with the other implied scopes

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Nim, which is indentation-based, has a block keyword.

block:
  echo "something"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I dislike it - every block creating scope is reinforced by the lack of a keyword. Not all languages allow a blank scope block but those that have scope should...

In terms of python, welp, they made their own bed by making white space syntax significant. It was a terrible decision and would require a custom solution... maybe they could let you just arbitrarily indent an extra time?

[–] Kissaki 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What's the intention and use case for this?

Only for empty, unlabeled, untyped scopes? Or would I write

function a() scope {}

Is it necessary for scope-ending cleanup of resources? If so, I would consider whether there are not better solutions for those.

Is it for code structuring? I would also consider what use a scope keyword has then, and what the alternatives are.

I don't see how adding a scope label helps with anything.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

To be honest, the only use case I really thought of was something like unlocking a mutex at the end of a scope or maybe a file.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

In that case managed languages like python and java combine that functionality with try blocks. This is generally called try with resources.
C# has the using keyword that just uses local scope.

The commonality between them is declaring which resource is managed, not just everything is a scope. Imagine you wanted to manage one resource and return another.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I was just thinking about Python's with