Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of Methods

Timestamp:

10/18/09 08:18:18 (15 years ago)

Author:

hopscc

Comment:

--

Methods

@@ +1 @@
+= Methods =
+
+Methods within a class are defined using the keyword '''def'''.
+
+If not specified the returnType is void (i.e nothing returned)  and the [wiki:AccessModifiers access modifiers]  are '''public, virtual'''[[BR]]
+
+Like variables, if the name is prefixed with an '''_''' its access modifier defaults to ''protected'' and it is directly accessable from within the class method code.[[BR]]
+If the name is prefixed with '''!__''' its access modifier defaults to ''private''.
+
+Without that prefix on the name of the method  the accessType is ''public, virtual'' and 
+it must be accessed from within method code by prefixing the name with either '''this.''' or just '''.''' .[[BR]]
+
+== Method Grammar ==
+{{{
+    def <methodName> [as <returnType>]  [is <AccessModifiers>]
+        [has <Attributes>]
+        [<DocString>]
+    def <methodName>(<paramList>) [as <returnType>]  [is <AccessModifiers>]
+        [has <Attributes>]
+        [<DocString>]
+}}} 
+
+
+=== Method ParamList ===
+
+A parameter list is a comma separated list of name (and optionally type and parameter description modifier) specifications
+
+{{{
+<paramName> [as [<paramDesc>] <Type>]  [, ...]
+}}}
+<paramDesc> is optional and may be '''vari''' and/or a parameter direction indicator '''out''' or '''inout''' ( default if unspecified is '''in''')[[BR]]
+
+'''vari''' indicates the parameter name is a placeholder for a variable length arglist. Within the method this may be unpacked/accessed as a list.[[BR]]
+
+'''in''' (implicit) Args are only passed into the method. Any changes made to the argument inside the method are not visible outside the method (pass-by-value)[[BR]]
+
+'''out''' the arg is returned from the method [[BR]]
+
+'''inout''' argument is both passed into the method and (any possibly changed) value is also returned from the method (pass-by-reference)[[BR]]
+
+
+If <Type> is unspecified it is treated as dynamic?[[BR]]
+
+
+== Example ==
+{{{
+    def meth( a, b is String, c is out String)
+        c = b + "_meth"
+
+    def sum(a as vari int) as int
+        sum = 0
+        for i in a
+            sum += i
+        return sum
+}}}
+  
+meth takes 3 args , the first and second are inward only and are typed as dynamic and a string respectively, [[br]]
+the third is only returned from the method as a string.
+
+sum takes a variable number of integer args and returns an integer.
+
+== Special Methods ==
+These are named methods on a class that have some special responsibility or relationship to the Object Model[[BR]]
+(they were originally implemented as methods with special names but have since been redone specified as [wiki:Cue cues]
+
+They include:
+
+ * Initializer '''init'''
+
+The __initializer__ (or constructor) method of a class is a special method named '''init''' which is implicitly called when a class instance is constructed.
+It's responsible for setting the contents of a class instance to an initial state.
+It doesnt return any value and is not inherited (i.e baseclass initialization must be done with an explicit call to 
+a baseclass constructor).
+
+If an init method is not specified the compiler runtime generates a noArg constructor that does nothing.
+
+Constructor chaining can be done to another constructor in the same class (usually with a different number or Type of args)
+or to a Superclass constructor  (using '''base.init''') - this call must be the first executable line in the init method.
+
+ * Destructor '''finalize'''
+
+ * !HashCode calculation '''hash'''  hash as int
+
+ * Comparison '''compare''' compare(other) as int
+
+ * Equality '''equals''' equals(other) as int
+
+ * Enumerator '''enumerate''' enumerate as T*
+