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SuffixConditionals

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Add Ruby-like suffix and Python-like infix conditionals to Visualworks Smalltalk.

SuffixConditionals is licensed under the MIT license. See the copyright tab in the RB, the notice property of this package or the LICENSE file on GitHub.

SuffixConditionals' primary home is the Cincom Public Store Repository. Check there for the latest version. It is also on GitHub.

SuffixConditionals was developed in VW 7.9.1, but is compatible with any version of VisualworksSmalltalk. If you find any incompatibilities, let me know (see below for contact information) or file an issue on GitHub.

Introduction

SuffixConditionals adds if:, unless:, and if:else: methods to BlockClosure in Visualworks Smalltalk.

When writing a conditional expression with a single branch (i.e., ifTrue: or ifFalse:), it is sometimes desirable for the main focus of the expression to be on the action, rather than the condition. In those cases, the action should come first.

Likewise, when using the return value of a conditional expression, an infix notation of the condition is easier to read from time to time.

SuffixConditionals makes that possible.

For example, the following code:

(self respondsTo: methodName)
    ifTrue: [^self perform: methodName with: anEvent]

can be written as:

[^self perform: methodName with: anEvent]
    if: (self respondsTo: methodName)

Another example:

'Variable n is ' , (n odd ifTrue: ['odd'] ifFalse: ['even'])

could be rewritten as:

'Variable n is ' , (['odd'] if: n odd else: ['even'])

It is up to you to decide which form is more readable in your code, but SuffixConditionals gives you the choice.

The methods #if:, #unless:, and #if:else are optimized in the same way as the standard conditional methods (#ifTrue:, #ifFalse:, etc), so SuffixConditionals does not impose an additional performance penalty. Thanks to Steffen Märcker for implementing this optimization.

Contributing

I'm happy to receive bug fixes and improvements to this package. If you'd like to contribute, please publish your changes as a "branch" (non-integer) version in the Public Store Repository and contact me as outlined below to let me know. I will consider merging your changes back into the "trunk" as soon as I can review them.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about SuffixConditionals and how to use it, feel free to contact me.

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Add Ruby-like suffix conditionals to Visualworks Smalltalk.

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