Hi Sean, I'm using "implicit default" or "implicit argument" for the chains of less and less terse methods that eventually call the fully-explicit canonic one. There is a related idiom where the explicit argument is a block, and the implicit version either results in a sentinel value or signals an exception, e.g. ifAbsent/ifNone. This one I call "default case handler".

In either case, I'm not convinced the name is that clear, so if you get by a nice one, I'm interested.

--
Damien Pollet
type less, do more [ | ] http://people.untyped.org/damien.pollet

I would call that code an example of "convenience methods".  In C, those
things would likely be implemented in terms of "macros".  The term
"pattern" is overloaded, I wouldn't use it here.

On 4/1/15 9:49 , Sean P. DeNigris wrote:

I agree with Andres about calling it a convenience method (and also not
calling it a pattern), but is this not also an example of currying?

Best
Joseph
On 02.04.15 00:49, Andres Valloud wrote:

--
Joseph Pelrine [ | ]
MetaProg GmbH
Email: jpelrine@metaprog.com
Web:  http://www.metaprog.com

As soon as you introduce people, things become complex.

... /me reads Wikipedia article ...

It sure looks like an example of currying!

On 4/1/15 22:14 , Joseph Pelrine wrote:

Nested Degenerate Convenience Methods

I don't have a better name, but maybe a bit of critique helps:

I would say that these methods are degenerate when viewed from a
bottom-up perspective.
Thinking top-down we could say that some parameters are implied by the
environment (self in this case) hence such methods are more abstract.

I guess this might dovetail with Damiens suggestions depending on usage.
Is it a pattern when it is used in a situation to hide certain concerns
-- when it is used particularly to reach abstraction, to 'give'
abstraction to higher layers?

R

On 4/1/2015 6:49 PM, Sean P. DeNigris wrote:

I'd say it's similar to currying, but not actual currying.

1. In this Smalltalk pattern, the extra default argument is fixed, provided
   at compile time; with currying, the extra argument is provided at runtime.
2. In Smalltalk, the result of any of the methods is the actual return value,
   whereas in currying it's a function until the last case.

This is more like partial function application:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currying#Contrast_with_partial_function_applicat
ion
but that only solves 2), not 1). Blocks can go all the way.

I'm not a functional programming expert, though!

Steve

Andres Valloud wrote April 2, 2015 11:38 AM: