Godot: Lambda notation for anonymous funcrefs

[jabcross]

Right now, the function a funcref (or a object-methodname pair) points to needs to be declared separately, which is inconvenient for small one-liners, especially in cases like connect().

This is a proposal for some syntax that would automate the creation of these one-off functions. Keep in mind that this does not entail having functions as first-class citizens (yet), just a compile-time nicety. The generated function would still exist and have a name in the bytecode.

This would also have the side-effect of allowing things like connect() and Tween.interpolate*() to receive funcrefs directly, in addition to object-methodname pairs.

My proposal is inspired by JavaScript's notation, rather than Python's (since : now has typing connotation):

() -> return_value
param -> return_expression * 2
(param1: String, param2: int) -> (x = return_statement)

Just like Python, multi-statement lambdas would not be allowed.

The variable context would be that of the closest class, so

var x: int = 20

class Baz:
    var x : int = 10
    var y : FuncRef

    func foo():
        y = ()->print(self.x)  # lambda expression starts in line 8, column 12

    func bar():
        y.call_func()  # prints 10

would compile to the same bytecode as something like

var x : int = 20

class Baz:
    var x : int = 10
    var y : FuncRef

    func foo():
        y = funcref(self,"__anonymous_function_8_12")

    func bar():
        y.call_func() # prints 10

    func __anonymous_function_8_12():
        print(self.x)

Some usage examples could be:

connect("signal_name", x -> baz(x*10) )

$Tween.interpolate_method( (x)->(y = x * x) ,0.0,1.0, ...<remainder of Tween's args>)

And it would fit nicely with map, reduce and filter, which have also been requested.

[1,2,3].map(x -> x*2) // returns [2,4,6]
[1,2,3].filter(x -> x%2==1) // returns [1,3]
[1,2,3].reduce((x,y) -> x + y) // returns 6
[1,2,3].reduce((x,y) -> x + y, 7) // returns 13

As a bonus, we could detect if any properties from self are being used and otherwise define the generated function as static (which also would require funcref support for static functions).

[vnen]

My idea for this would be to allow multiline lambdas as well. Somewhat like this:

func _ready():
    print("okay")
    var lambda = ():
        print("inside")
        print("also inside")

    lambda()

    connect("toggled", x: print(x))

    [1,2,3].reduce((x, y): x + y, 7)

    [1,2,3].map((x: int):
        var temp = x * 2
        return pow(temp, temp)
    )

    var transform = x:
        return x * 2

    # Binding from external context (syntax can change)
    [1,2,3].map((x).(transform): return transform(x))

Might be a little trick to implement all the nuances with indentation, but should be doable.

@jabcross suggested replacing the : with -> for lambdas. I'm considering though I think it's a bit inconsistent, since indented blocks usually start after :.

[jahd2602]

My idea for this would be to allow multiline lambdas as well. Somewhat like this:

func _ready():
    print("okay")
    var lambda = ():
        print("inside")
        print("also inside")

    lambda()

    connect("toggled", x: print(x))

    [1,2,3].reduce((x, y): x + y, 7)

    [1,2,3].map((x: int):
        var temp = x * 2
        return pow(temp, temp)
    )

    var transform = x:
        return x * 2

I really like this idea, and I would make the parenthesis mandatory, like this:

func _ready():
    print("okay")
    var lambda = ():
        print("inside")
        print("also inside")

    lambda()

    connect("toggled", (x): print(x))

    [1,2,3].reduce((x, y): x + y, 7)

    [1,2,3].map((x: int):
        var temp = x * 2
        return pow(temp, temp)
    )

    var transform = (x):
        return x * 2

That way, every time one sees (...): means lambda without doubt.

[jahd2602]

I find this part a bit confusing:

    [1,2,3].map((x).(transform): return transform(x))

[aaronfranke]

Why would I want to do this:

func _ready():
    print("okay")
    var lambda = ():
        print("inside")
        print("also inside")

    lambda()

Instead of this:

func lambda():
    print("inside")
    print("also inside")

func _ready():
    print("okay")
    lambda()

Isn't the latter more readable as it requires knowing fewer syntactic rules?

[jahd2602]

@aaronfranke In the example you mention, a lambda wouldn't be worth it. But in other cases such as:

1. Passing callbacks to signals
2. Working with async code
3. Creating a chain of functions, where a function calls the next once it finishes (probably after some time)
4. Using functional methods such as map, reduce and filter*
5. and more...

...lambdas are worth it. Specially when a function doesn't need a function name.

(*) I am currently using these kind of functions in a Godot 3.1 project with funcrefs, and looks very hacky.

[mnn]

I have recently published an experimental library Golden Gadget where lambdas are simulated (not ideal - essentially eval under the hood) and for some functions they are directly usable:

# monsters is an array of objects
var res = G(monsters).filter("x => x.is_alive && x.hp < 10").map("x => x.name").val

It also has a shorthand for creating funcrefs of anonymous functions (without closures):

F("x => x.b").call_func({b = true}) # true

At least until lambdas are in GDScript this might be a good enough solution. Of course all depends on your use case - array wrapper isn't free and while lambdas are being cached, their performance will undoubtedly be worse than native func.

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues/17268#issuecomment-548822364

[mhilbrunner]

Looks like we're gettting first class functions with Godot 4.0 :)
https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/39093

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