anonymous function examples

anonymous.R

## apply a function to square a list of numbers
square <- function(x) {
  x^2
}

lapply(list(1,2,3), square)

## save some code and declare 'square' anonymously - i.e. never assign it anywhere
## using the name 'square'

lapply(list(1,2,3), function(x) { x^2 })
## save more code - drop {}
lapply(list(1,2,3), function(x)  x^2 )

## All of above are valid currently.
## Proposal is an even more compact anonymous function syntax:

lapply(list(1,2,3), (x) => x^2)
## or
lapply(list(1,2,3), \(x) x^2)
## or
lapply(list(1,2,3) @(x) x^2)

## It's nothing more than a case of swapping 'function' for one of those above,
## saving 6 - 7 characters. Yes 6 - 7 characters is what the excitement is
## about. But it can declutter code if you use these types of expressions a lot.