Fx–Extended Anonymous Functions for Elixir

This is a simple library that let's me play with alternative anonymous function declaration syntaxes in Elixir.

In the same way that you can write &(&1+&2) (soon to be &(%1+%1)) in Elixir, this library lets you write fx(&1+&2).

However, unlike the & capture in Elixir, fx also supports

• Capturing functions with zero arity

  (fx IO.puts("Hello").()   #=> Hello
  
  f = fx 42
  IO.puts f.()              #=> 42
  

• Faking out the arity

  Enum.each 1..3, fx(1, IO.puts("hello"))

• Having non-sequential placeholders

  f = fx &2 + &4
  IO.puts f.(5,6,7,8)  #=> 14
  

Usage:

Add /pragdave/elixir-fx to your dependencies, and use Fx anywhere you want the fx helper.

If I Can Convince José

(and this isn't going to happen...). Add a new operator (perhaps \ or $) or add some of this functionality to & when the parameters change from &1 to %1. This would also make it easier to implement the &(%1+%2) → &Kernel.+/2 trick.

Copyright and License

Copyright © 2013 Dave Thomas, The Pragmatic Programmers

Licensed under the same terms as Elixir.