File Coverage

blib/lib/Syntax/Keyword/Match.pm

Criterion	Covered	Total	%
statement	18	20	90.0
branch	7	10	70.0
condition			n/a
subroutine	4	4	100.0
pod			n/a
total	29	34	85.2

#  You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public License
#  or the Artistic License (the same terms as Perl itself)
#
#  (C) Paul Evans, 2021-2023 -- [e-mail]

package Syntax::Keyword::Match 0.12;

use v5.14;
use warnings;

use Carp;

require XSLoader;
XSLoader::load( __PACKAGE__, our $VERSION );

=head1 NAME

C - a C syntax for perl

=head1 SYNOPSIS

   use v5.14;
   use Syntax::Keyword::Match;

   my $n = ...;

   match($n : ==) {
      case(1) { say "It's one" }
      case(2) { say "It's two" }
      case(3) { say "It's three" }
      case(4), case(5)
              { say "It's four or five" }
      default { say "It's something else" }
   }

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This module provides a syntax plugin that implements a control-flow block
called C, which executes at most one of a choice of different
blocks depending on the value of its controlling expression.

This is similar to C's C syntax (copied into many other
languages), or syntax provided by L.

This is an initial, experimental implementation. Furthermore, it is built as
a non-trivial example use-case on top of L, which is also
experimental. No API or compatibility guarantees are made at this time.

=head1 Experimental Features

Some of the features of this module are currently marked as experimental (even
within the context that the module itself is experimental). They will provoke
warnings in the C category, unless silenced.

   use Syntax::Keyword::Match qw( match :experimental(dispatch) );

   use Syntax::Keyword::Match qw( match :experimental );  # all of the above

=cut

my @EXPERIMENTAL = qw( dispatch );

sub import
{
   shift;
   my @syms = @_;

   @syms or @syms = ( "match" );

   my %syms = map { $_ => 1 } @syms;

   $^H{"Syntax::Keyword::Match/match"}++ if delete $syms{match};

   foreach ( @EXPERIMENTAL ) {
      $^H{"Syntax::Keyword::Match/experimental($_)"}++ if delete $syms{":experimental($_)"};
   }

   if( delete $syms{":experimental"} ) {
      $^H{"Syntax::Keyword::Match/experimental($_)"}++ for @EXPERIMENTAL;
   }

   croak "Unrecognised import symbols @{[ keys %syms ]}" if keys %syms;
}

=head1 KEYWORDS

=head2 match

   match( EXPR : OP ) {
      ...
   }

A C statement provides the controlling expression, comparison operator,
and sequence of C statements for a match operation. The expression is
evaluated to yield a scalar value, which is then compared, using the
comparison operator, against each of the C labels in the order they are
written, topmost first. If a match is found then the body of the labelled
block is executed. If no label matches but a C block is present, that
will be executed instead. After a single inner block has been executed, no
further tests are performed and execution continues from the statement
following the C statement.

The braces following the C block must only contain C or
C statements. Arbitrary code is not supported here.

Even though a C statement is a full statement and not an expression, it
can still yield a value if it appears as the final statment in its containing
C or C block. For example:

   my $result = do {
      match( $topic : == ) {
         case(1) { ... }
      }
   };

=head3 Comparison Operators

The comparison operator must be either C (to compare cases as strings) or
C<==> (to compare them as numbers), or C<=~> (to compare cases using regexps).

I, or previous versions on Perl
releases 5.32 onwards, the C operator is also supported, allowing
dispatch based on what type of object the controlling expression gives.

   match( $obj : isa ) {
      case(A::Package)       { ... }
      case(Another::Package) { ... }
   }

Remember that comparisons are made in the order they are written, from the top
downwards. Therefore, if you list a derived class as well as a base class,
make sure to put the derived class B the base class, or instances of
that type will also match the base class C block and the derived one
will never match.

   class TheBase {}
   class Derived :isa(TheBase) {}

   match( $obj : isa ) {
      case(TheBase) { ... }
      case(Derived) {
         # This case will never match as the one above will always happen first
      }
   }

I the operator syntax is parsed using L,
meaning that custom infix operators can be recognised, even on versions of
perl that do not support the full C mechanism.

=head2 case

   case(VAL) { STATEMENTS... }

   case(VAL), case(VAL), ... { STATEMENTS... }

A C statement must only appear inside the braces of a C. It
provides a block of code to run if the controlling expression's value matches
the value given in the C statement, according to the comparison
operator.

Multiple C statements are permitted for a single block. A value matching
any of them will run the code inside the block.

If the value is a non-constant expression, such as a variable or function
call, it will be evaluated as part of performing the comparison every time the
C statement is executed. For best performance it is advised to extract
values that won't need computing again into a variable or C that
can be calculated just once at program startup; for example:

   use constant CONDITION => a_function("with", "arguments");

   match( $var : eq ) {
      case(CONDITION) { ... }
      ...
   }

The C<:experimental(dispatch)> feature selects a more efficient handling of
sequences of multiple C blocks with constant expressions. This handling
is implemented with a custom operator that will entirely confuse modules like
C or optree inspectors like coverage tools so is not selected by
default, but can be enabled for extra performance in critical sections.

=head2 default

A C statement must only appear inside the braces of a C. If
present, it must be the final choice, and there must only be one of them. It
provides a block of code to run if the controlling expression's value did not
match any of the given C labels.

=cut

=head1 COMPARISONS

As this syntax is fairly similar to a few other ideas, the following
comparisons may be useful.

=head2 Core perl's given/when syntax

Compared to core perl's C syntax (available with
C), this syntax is initially visually very similar but
actually behaves very differently. Core's C uses the smartmatch
(C<~~>) operator for its comparisons, which is complex, subtle, and hard to
use correctly - doubly-so when comparisons against values stored in variables
rather than literal constants are involved. It can be unpredictable whether
string or numerical comparison are being used, for example. By comparison,
this module requires the programmer to specify the comparison operator. The
choice of string or numerical comparison is given in the source code - there
can be no ambiguity.

Additionally, the C operator is also permitted, which has no equivalent
ability in smartmatch.

Also, the C syntax permits mixed code within a C block
which is run unconditionally, or at least, until the first successful C
statement is encountered. The syntax provided by this module requires that the
only code inside a C block be a sequence of C statements. No
other code is permitted.

=head2 Switch::Plain

Like this module, L also provides a syntax where the programmer
specifies whether the comparison is made using stringy or numerical semantics.
C also permits additional conditions to be placed on C
blocks, whereas this module does not.

Additionally, the C operator is also permitted, which has no equivalent
ability in C.

=head2 C's switch/case

The C programming language provides a similar sort of syntax, using keywords
named C and C. One key difference between that and the syntax
provided for Perl by this module is that in C the C labels really are
just labels. The C part of the statement effectively acts as a sort of
computed C. This often leads to bugs caused by forgetting to put a
C at the end of a sequence of statements before the next C label;
a situation called "fallthrough". Such a mistake is impossible with this
module, because every C is provided by a block. Once execution has
finished with the block, the entire C statement is finished. There is
no possibility of accidental fallthrough.

C's syntax only permits compiletime constants for C labels, whereas this
module will also allow the result of any runtime expression.

Code written in C will perform identically even if any of the C labels
and associated code are moved around into a different order. The syntax
provided by this module notionally performs all of its tests in the order they
are written in, and any changes of that order might cause a different result.

=head1 TODO

This is clearly an early experimental work. There are many features to add,
and design decisions to make. Rather than attempt to list them all here it
would be best to check the RT bug queue at

L

=head1 AUTHOR

Paul Evans

=cut

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