Make private functions private

[shmuelie]

Currently private functions are put on the prototype of a function so they are not really private. I suggest adding them as normal functions in the scope of the class so that they are in fact only accessible to the class.

Example

module Example
{
    export class ExampleClass
    {
        method()
        {
            this.privateMethod();
        }
        private privateMethod()
        {
            console.log("private");
        }
    }
}

would create

var Example;
(function (Example) {
    var ExampleClass = (function () {
        function ExampleClass() {
        }
        function ExampleClass_privateMethod()
        {
            console.log("private");
        }
        ExampleClass.prototype.method = function () {
            privateMethod();
        };
        return ExampleClass;
    })();
    Example.ExampleClass = ExampleClass;
})(Example || (Example = {}));

[DanielRosenwasser]

We've had this discusion before and I don't think we'd be willing to take this approach given the original reasons as well as the fact that it's not really backwards compatible anymore.

[shmuelie]

Ah, should have checked the Codeplex site too for this. I do see the issues but not really the backward compatibility issue. Since private methods should never be called outside the class only code that would break is code that should break.

[DanielRosenwasser]

Unfortunately, "should never" is not the same as "has never" - users may have previously used privates to emulate other levels of privacy like C++'s friend that are not in the language - basically along the same lines of "I know that these members are here but nobody else should."

[RyanCavanaugh]

In addition to the issues in the linked thread, note that the this reference would be wrong in the private method in the proposed codegen.

[shmuelie]

Fair enough