For loops with per-iteration variables

[David-Sarah Hopwood]

David-Sarah Hopwood wrote:
> David-Sarah Hopwood wrote:
>> Mark S. Miller wrote:
>>> [...] I recommend the per-iteration view. If we can
>>> agree quickly on per-iteration, then
>>>
>>>     for (const x = ...) {...x...}
>>>
>>> should be allowed in ES3.1 (whether or not const hoists to block
>>> start). After ES3.1
>>>
>>>     for (const i :T[i] = ...) {...; a[i] = function(){...i...}; ...}
>>>
>>> would then mean what it should mean. Cool.
>> Not so fast :-) Consider:
>>
>>   for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) { ... }
>>
>> In the "i++", which iteration's 'i' is the LeftHandSideExpression
>> referring to? Or does this expand to something like:
>>
>>   let ($i = 0) {
>>     for (;
>>          let (i = $i) {i < 10};
>>          let (i = $i) {{i++;} $i = i;}} {
>>       let (i = $i) {...};
>>     }
>>   }
>>
>> ?
> 
> This expansion is wrong for the case where the body updates i.
> I'll have to think about it some more.

MarkM is right that it just falls out of the natural tail-recursive
encoding of a for loop. I got the above expansion wrong by trying to do
it imperatively, which was silly -- the tail-recursive expansion is much
simpler:

  for (let i = initExpr; condExpr; updateExpr) { body }
==>
  { let ($loop = lambda(i) {
           if (condExpr) {
             { body } (updateExpr); $loop(i);
           }
         }) { $loop(initExpr); } }


or, to handle break and continue properly given an 'escape' construct
that works similarly to that in E, something like:

  label: for (let i = initExpr; condExpr; updateExpr) { body }
==>
  { let ($loop = lambda(i) {
           escape {
             if (condExpr) {
               { body } (updateExpr); $loop(i);
             }
           } catch ['break', label] {}
             catch ['continue', label] {(updateExpr); $loop(i);}
         }) { $loop(initExpr); } }


This also straightforwardly generalizes to multiple variables.
I withdraw the contention that it is too magical.

-- 
David-Sarah Hopwood