using -> for concise functions and → for TCP functions

short-functions.js

// 1. Shorter function syntax.
//
// This version does not respect "Tennent's correspondence principle" -- it's nothing
// more than syntactic sugar for the traditional function syntax. That means when you
// see the normal braced body of a function, whether it's a longhand function or this
// shorthand version, there's no difference: return, this, and arguments are all tied
// to the new function body, and there's no implicit returning of the last expression
// result.

a.some((x) → {
    if (invalid(x))
        return true;
    console.log(x);
})

// 2. Lambdas.
//
// This version is maximally concise, allowing only an expression for the body rather
// than a block statement. Between the "function" and "return" keywords, this saves a
// ton of noise and rightward drift. Another important benefit of the expression body
// is that there's no danger of leaking a completion value by accident. Braced bodies
// discard their result in shorthand and longhand functions, and lambdas return their
// result because their bodies are expressions.

a.map((x) → x * 17)

// Unlike the -> syntax above, lambdas do respect Tennent's correspondence principle:
// In particular, the this-binding remains the same as in the outer context.

CSVReader.prototype.read = function(str) {
    return str.split(/\n/)
              .map((line) → line.split(this.regexp));
};

// 3. Do-expressions.
// http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=strawman:do_expressions

// This is not a function syntax but rather a way to execute arbitrary statements and
// still produce a result value. Currently, the only way to e.g. run a loop or bind a
// local variable before producing a result is to wrap the statements in an IIFE. But
// this messes up `this` and `arguments`. Do-expressions make this clean and simple:

var x = do {
    let t = f();
    t * t + 1
};

// 4. So happy together...

// Lambdas respect TCP, so you can return or break/continue to their outer functions.
// Compare and contrast this syntax with: https://gist.github.com/1609202

// Although do-expressions expose the completion value of a statement, they signal it
// explicitly with the keyword at their head. None of the function shorthands quietly
// leaks completion values without opt-in via `do`.

Mailbox.prototype.extractContents = function(contacts) {
    for (let a = this.messages, i = 0, n = a.length; i < n; i++) {
        a[i].headers.forEach((header) → do {
            if (header.isSpam())
                continue; // could use a label but unnecessary
            let addresses = header.extractAddresses();
            addresses.forEach((addr) -> {
                contacts.add(addr.name, addr.email);
            });
        });
    }
};