Proposal: Object.defineProperty shorthand

[David Flanagan]

Is a not-quite-so-cryptic shorthand possible?  Could you use #readonly, 
#hidden, and #fixed instead of !, ~ and #, for example?  This would be 
more extensible.  Maybe #sealed and #frozen for object, literals?

     David

On 5/26/11 11:37 AM, Sean Eagan wrote:
> Note: This proposal stems from the discussion in [3].  The intention
> is to update [1] and [2] and either include the new content within [1]
> or a new strawman linked to from [2].
>
> Object.defineProperty shorthand
> ==========================
>
> Object.defineProperty calls are verbose, and also require property
> descriptor object allocation and validation.  Both of these issues
> could be solved by providing concise and optimizable syntax for this
> functionality.  Allen Wirf-Brock's "Concise Object Literal Extensions"
> strawman [1] already solves this within the context of object
> literals, however, its infix non-writable mark makes it non-applicable
> to other contexts.  This can be fixed by making it a prefix, and
> adjusting the prefix-character to property-descriptor-attribute
> mapping.
>
> Semantics:
>
> // # implies non-configurable
> # a.b = c
> //<=>
> Object.defineProperty(a, "b", {configurable: false, writable: true,
> enumerable: true, value: c})
>
> // ! implies non-writable, ~ implies non-enumerable
> // all assignment operators can be used
> ! a.b += c
> //<=>
> Object.defineProperty(a, "b", {configurable: true, writable: false,
> enumerable: true, value: a.b + c})
>
> // postfix expressions only work when # (non-configurable) is used
> !~a.b++
> //<=>
> !(~(a.b++))
> #~a.b++ // evaluates to initial value of a.b just like a.b++ does
> //<=>
> Object.defineProperty(a, "b", {configurable: false, writable: false,
> enumerable: true, value: a.b++})
>
> // can use both dot and bracket syntax
> #!~ a[b] = c
> //<=>
> Object.defineProperty(a, b, {configurable: false, writable: false,
> enumerable: false, value: c})
>
> // destructuring works as well
> [#a.b, !this[c], ...~d.e] = [1, 2, 3, 4];
> //<=>
> Object.defineProperty(a, "b", {configurable: false, writable: true,
> enumerable: true, value: 1});
> Object.defineProperty(this, c, {configurable: true, writable: false,
> enumerable: true, value: 2});
> Object.defineProperty(d, "e", {configurable: true, writable: true,
> enumerable: false, value: [3, 4]});
>
> // changes to object literals
> var a = {
>    #!~b: "b" // infix = changed to prefix !, previous ! changed to #
>    !c // non-writable implicit initialization parameters now work
> }
>
>
> Grammar changes to [2] :
>
> LeftHandSideExpression :
>    DataPropertyPrefixopt BasicLeftHandSideExpression
>
> BasicLeftHandSideExpression :
>    NewExpression
>    CallExpression
>
> PrefixedPropertyAssignment:
>    DataPropertyPrefixopt DataPropertyAssignment
>    AccessorPropertyPrefixopt AccessorPropertyAssignment
>
> Note: the following two replace PropertyPrefix
>
> DataPropertyPrefix :
>    !
>    AccessorPropertyPrefix
>    AccessorPropertyPrefix !
>    ! AccessorPropertyPrefix
>
> AccessorPropertyPrefix :
>    #
>    ~
>    ~#
>    #~
>
> Note: the following two replace PropertyAssignment
>
> DataPropertyAssignment :
>    Identifier
>    PropertyName : AssignmentStatement
>    PropertyName ( FormalParameterListopt ) { FunctionBody }
>
> AccessorPropertyAssignment :
>    get PropertyName ( ) { FunctionBody }
>    set PropertyName ( PropertySetParameterList ) { FunctionBody }
>    set super get PropertyName ( ) { FunctionBody }
>    get super set PropertyName ( PropertySetParameterList ) { FunctionBody }
>
>
> [1] http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=strawman:concise_object_literal_extensions
> [2] http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=strawman:basic_object_literal_extensions
> [3] https://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/es-discuss/2011-May/014566.html
>
> Thanks,
> Sean Eagan
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