From: Sean McAfee <eefacm@gmail.com>
To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Subject: Re: Returning variable "references" under lexical binding
Date: Mon, 20 May 2013 22:39:48 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <87fvxgc2mz.fsf@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: mailman.112.1369106352.22516.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:
>> (defun start-my-timer ()
>> (let ((timer (gensym)))
>> ;; ... (set timer (make-timer ...)) ...
>> timer))
> [...]
>> (defun cancel-my-timer (timer)
>> (cancel-timer (symbol-value timer)))
> Why not
>
> (defun start-my-timer ()
> (let ((timer (make-timer ...))
> ...
> timer))
> (defun cancel-my-timer (timer)
> (cancel-timer timer))
Because start-my-timer sets up callbacks that may repeatedly change the
value of the "timer" variable:
;; -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
(defun start-my-timer ()
(let (timer)
(setq timer (make-timer ...))
;; ... (later (occasionally (setq timer (make-timer ...)))) ...
(lambda () timer))
Like I said in my original article:
> It's a routine that sets up a series of idle timers, storing
> each successive timer object into the same lexical variable.
I should have made that more explicit.
>> The documenentation for lexical variables cautions against treating them
>> as symbols, specifically stating that functions like symbol-value will
>> not work.
> In your above code, you're not treating variables as symbols.
> You're just storing a symbol inside a variable, which is fine.
Yes, I was explaining why I assumed this wouldn't work:
;; -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
(defun start-my-timer ()
(let (timer)
(setq timer (make-timer ...))
;; ... (later (occasionally (setq timer (make-timer ...)))) ...
'timer)
(defun cancel-timer (timer)
(cancel-timer (symbol-value timer)))
If I were not using lexical binding, though, this should work:
(defun start-my-timer ()
(let ((timer (gensym)))
(set timer (make-timer ...))
;; ... (later (occasionally (set timer (make-timer ...)))) ...
timer))
;; cancel-timer as before
The question still stands if using a closure as a handle to a varying
lexical variable is the right way to go.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2013-05-21 5:39 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 11+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2013-05-20 20:35 Returning variable "references" under lexical binding Sean McAfee
2013-05-21 1:18 ` Barry Margolin
2013-05-21 3:18 ` Stefan Monnier
[not found] ` <mailman.112.1369106352.22516.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2013-05-21 5:39 ` Sean McAfee [this message]
2013-05-21 12:54 ` Stefan Monnier
2013-05-21 14:23 ` Barry Margolin
2013-05-21 16:38 ` Sean McAfee
2013-05-21 18:06 ` Barry Margolin
2013-05-21 22:43 ` Sean McAfee
2013-05-23 1:01 ` Stefan Monnier
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2013-05-21 14:41 Barry OReilly
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