RFC 244 (v1) Method calls should not suffer from the action on a distance

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=head1 TITLE

Method calls should not suffer from the action on a distance

=head1 VERSION

  Maintainer: Ilya Zakharevich <[email protected]>
  Date: 15 Sep 2000
  Mailing List: [email protected]
  Number: 244
  Version: 1
  Status: Developing

=head1 ABSTRACT

This RFC proposes to remove indirect object syntax, and modify the
semantic of the C<< -> >> operator.

=head1 DESCRIPTION

=head2 ->

Currently,

  foo->bar($baz)

can be parsed either as C<<'foo'->bar($baz)>>, or as C<<foo()->bar($baz)>>
depending on how the symbol C<foo> was used on other places.  The proposal
is to always choose the first meaning: make C<< -> >> autoquote the bareword
on the left.

This interpretation is more desirable on esthetical ground, since

  'foo'->bar($baz)

looks visually clattered, but C<<foo()->bar($baz)>> looks as if it expresses
its meaning.  The default choice is done so that if you need other
choice, your code does not look artificial.

=head2 Parentheses

  foo->bar($baz, $coon)

should be made synonymous with

  foo->bar $baz, $coon

I can see no ambiguity in this call, but it not always works with Perl5.

=head2 Indirect object syntax

Currently,

  bar foo $baz

can be parsed either as C<<'foo'->bar($baz)>>, or as C<&bar(&foo($baz))>,
depending on how the symbols C<foo> and C<bar> were used on other places.

There only way to avoid the action at a distance is to prohibit one of these
interpretations.  Since the other way C<<foo->bar $baz>> to write this
method call is as convenient as the indirect object syntax, the proposal
is to prohibit the indirect object method calls altogether.

Make the above syntax be interpreted as C<&bar(&foo($baz))>.

=head1 MIGRATION ISSUES

Translate Perl5 code as specified above.

=head1 IMPLEMENTATION

Remove the DWIM logic from the parser.

=head1 REFERENCES

None.