OO Syntax

[Eric Tetz <erictetz@...>]

I'm comfortable with the bit of "syntax sugar" trickery Lua uses for
'method' invocation, i.e.:

  object:method()

However, I'm finding that users in my Alpha test group are tripped
up by this quite often.  I make heavy use of namespaces, so I use
might be called upon to write something like:

menu = mmb.newMenu() -- no table constructor, for example sake...
menu:add('Restore')
menu:add('Exit')
choice = menu:show()
if choice == 1 then
  mmb.restoreApp()
else
  mmb.exit()
end

Where 'mmb' is a namespace, and 'menu' is an object.

The problem is, users often forget which is which.  Do they use ':' or
'.'?  Sure, as they become Lua experts, and become more familiar with
my library, this will be a non-issue, but I don't want them to have to
become experts.

I would like to be able to tag a function as a 'method', at which
point it automatically provides the ':' invocation semantics. So I
could say:

  menu = mmb.newMenu()
  menu.add('Restore')
  menu.add('Exit')
  choice = menu.show()
  if choice == 1 then
    mmb.restoreApp()
  else
    mmb.exit()
  end

As in Java, JavaScript, C#, etc.

Is there a way to do it without modifying the source? Has this been considered in the
past?  Is there a patch somewhere?

Cheers,
Eric






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