Block exprs as better object literals (was: Semantics and abstract syntax of lambdas)

[Yuh-Ruey Chen]

Mark S. Miller wrote:
> If a block contains revealed declarations, then the block's revealed
> value is a new non-extensible object whose properties mirror these
> declared variable names. A revealed "const" is simply a copy of the
> same value. For "var", "let", and "function", the property is an
> accessor property without a setter, whose getter gets the named
> variable. Revealed "function"s and the last (method) production create
> non-enumerable properties. The others are enumerable. Revealed "var"s
> create configurable properties. The others are non-configurable. Thus,
> in the absence of a revealed "var", the revealed object is frozen.
> Redoing Peter's example[2], we get
>
> const Point = lambda(privX, privY) {
>   let privInstVar = 2;
>   const privInstConst = -2;
>   reveal toString() { reveal ('<' + getX() + ',' + getY() + '>') };
>   reveal getX() { reveal privX };
>   reveal getY() { reveal privY };
>   reveal let pubInstVar = 4;
>   reveal const pubInstConst = -4;
> }
>
> Revealed declarations always desugar to object creation + property
> definition + revealing the created object. So the above example would
> desugar to
>
> const Point = lambda(privX, privY) {
>   let privInstVar = 2;
>   const privInstConst = -2;
>   const toString = lambda() { reveal ('<' + getX() + ',' + getY() +
> '>') };
>   const getX = lambda() { reveal (privX) };
>   const getY = lambda() { reveal (privY) };
>   let pubInstVar = 4;
>   const pubInstConst = -4;
>   reveal (Object.preventExtensions(Object.create(Object.prototype, {
>     toString: {value: toString},
>     getX: {value: getX},
>     getY: {value: getY},
>     pubInstVar: {get: lambda{reveal (pubInstVar)}, enumerable: true},
>     pubInstConst: {value: pubInstConst, enumerable: true}
>   })))
> }

TBH, even after substituting more Java-esque keywords like "public" for
"reveal", this just doesn't appeal to my aesthetic sense. The user will
naturally wonder why he should do |reveal (privX)| rather than |return
privX|. I'm not sure what the benefit there is to trying to completely
replace functions with lambdas for class methods.