c2lang
Support usage of function types without aliasing
C2 currently supports function pointer types through aliasing:
type HandlerFunc func bool(char*);
func void passHello(HandlerFunc handler) {
handler("hello");
}
This is great, and it's a big improvement over C. However, currently, it's not possible to do the following:
func void passHello(func bool(char*) handler) {
handler("hello");
}
Just using the function type without aliasing is not currently supported. I believe that it should be added for consistency's sake.
Yeah, I think that makes sense too although might be difficult to read as a return type?
Agreed. It'd be considered best practice to alias the type for better readability, however if you are just using it trivially, you have the freedom not to.
If it's to be in the lang then it needs to parse correctly, so I wonder if that might be an issue. Consider:
func func bool(char*)* return_a_hello_function()
It's a bit better with mandatory ():
func (func bool(char*))* return_a_hello_function()
Still... I'm on the fence about this. Not using an alias does reduce readability quite a bit. It might be good to actually "force" the alias.
There are a few cases where function pointer declarations are needed:
- function argument (your example)
- variable/struct member
- return type
What I don't like in C is that you have to change the prototype in several places if you want to change the prototype of the function. This is especially nasty in the case of function argument and return type. For the case of the struct member, you often only specify the prototype in 1 place, like: (C-code)
typedef struct Mystruct {
int (*handler)(char*);
}
In this case, the C2 solution requires more typing because it becomes:
type Handler func i32(char*);
type Mystruct struct {
Handler handler;
}
This get worse if your code uses a lot of different function pointers in a struct.
What I also don't like about C is the syntax for function pointers. The name is hidden in the middle instead of type name.
So I understand your argument and agree, but I think the alternative is worse in my opinion..
