Uniform function call syntax: Difference between revisions

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{{Primary sources|date=September 2017}}

'''Uniform Function Call Syntax''' ('''UFCS''') or '''Uniform Calling Syntax''' ('''UCS''') or sometimes '''Universal Function Call Syntax''' is a [[programming language]] feature in [[D (programming language)|D]] and [[Nim (programming language)|Nim]] that allows any [[function (computer programming)|function]] to be called using the syntax for method calls (as in [[object-oriented programming]]), by using the [[receiver (object-oriented programming)|receiver]] as the first parameter, and the given arguments as the remaining parameters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dlang.org/function.html#pseudo-member|title=Functions - D Programming Language|website=Dlang.org|accessdate=1 October 2017}}</ref> The same technique is used in the [[AviSynth]] scripting language under the name "OOP notation".<ref>{{cite web|title=Operators - Avisynth wiki|url=http://avisynth.nl/index.php/Operators#Operator_Precedence|quote=<code>a.function(b)</code> is equivalent to <code>function(a, b)</code>}}</ref>

UFCS is particularly useful when function calls are chained<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/ufcs.html|title=Programming in D - Universal Function Call Syntax (UFCS)|website=Ddili.org|accessdate=1 October 2017}}</ref> (behaving similar to [[Pipe (computer science)|pipe]]s, or the various dedicated [[Operator (computer programming)|operator]]s available in [[functional language]]s for passing values through a series of [[Expression (computer science)|expression]]s). It allows free-functions to fill a role similar to [[extension method]]s in some other languages. Another benefit of the method call syntax is userelated to withcompletion "[[dot-autocomplete]]"systems in [[Integrated development environment|IDEs]], which use type information to show a list of available functions, dependent on the context. When the programmer starts with an argument, the set of potentially applicable functions is greatly narrowed down,<ref name="auto">{{cite web|title="Unified Call Syntax"|url=https://isocpp.org/files/papers/N4165.pdf|format=PDF|website=Isocpp.org|accessdate=1 October 2017}}</ref> aiding [[discoverability]].

== Examples ==