doc: re-design property syntax

doc/sample/Person.im

@@ -94,11 +94,68 @@ class Person
         end
     end
 
+    /* Properties are defined using the $ symbol.
+       They accomplish two things:
+        1) they make it easy to synthesize the -get: and -put:at: messages
+           that the package dot syntax requires.
+        2) they allow you to implement getters and setters that are used
+           when someone attempts to access your object's data.
+
+       The contents of a property looks a bit like a package, but it has a few
+       special rules:
+        1) every value must have an associated key; and
+        2) the only keys that can be used are `get` and `set` (this is the only
+           instance where reserved keywords can be used as keys in a package).
+
+       In this case, the getter has been set to a variable. To facilitate this
+       functionality, the compiler converts this to a lambda of the form
+            [ ^self.val ]
+       that will be evaluated when the getter is invoked
+
+       Similarly, the compiler synthesizes a lambda for the setter as well.
+       Here, the expression
+            self.val = value
+       is converted to the lambda
+            [ :x | self.val = x ]
+    */
     $ exampleProperty
-        - get
+        get => self.val,
-            ^42
+        set => self.val = value
-        end
     end
+
+    /* Without the lambda synthesis, the property would look like this:
+       Note that this is the only time it is legal to access private fields
+       via `self` from a lambda. */
+    $ exampleProperty
+        get => [ ^self.val ],
+        set => [ :x | self.val = x ]
+    end
+
+    /* The `get` element of a property doesn't have to be a lambda, it can
+       be any value. When the property is accessed, the value provided will
+       be returned.
+
+       If either the `set` or `get` elements are not provided, the property
+       becomes read-only or write-only respectively */
+    $ exampleProperty2
+        get => 42
+    end
+
+    /* A property can also be configured to act just like a regular variable,
+       by setting the getter and setters to default implementations.
+
+       The default getter will return the value of a private member variable
+       named by prepending two underscores to the property name
+       (__exampleProperty3 in this case).
+
+       Similarly, the default setter will set the value of a private member
+       variable named by prepending two underscores to the property name
+       (__exampleProperty3 in this case) to the value provided to the setter. */
+    $ exampleProperty3 (get, set)
+
+    /* Just like in the earlier examples, either `get` or `set` can be omitted
+       to create a write-only or read-only property respectively */
+    $ exampleProperty4 (get)
 end
 
 p1 = Person new(name:'John Doe' age:34)
@@ -180,21 +237,21 @@ end
 
 /******************************************************************************/
 
-package = {}
+pkg = {}
 
 /**
     Packages can be indexed via integer or string. If a package is index with a
     variable, the value of the variable is used as the index.
  **/
 
-package[0] = 16
+pkg[0] = 16
 
 /* All of these accesses are equivalent */
-package['x'] = 32
+pkg['x'] = 32
-package.x = 32
+pkg.x = 32
 
 index = 'x'
-package[index] = 32
+pkg[index] = 32
 
 /**
     this syntax, and the pkg.* instructions that it translates to, is
@@ -238,8 +295,8 @@ end
 /**
     any object can be the target of a for-loop, as long as it meets one of the
     following criteria:
-        a) is an Iterator object-- or
+        a) is an Iterator object; or
-	b) implements the Iterator protocol-- or
+	b) implements the Iterator protocol; or
 	c) understands the -iterator message, and returns an object that itself
            conforms to a) or b)
  **/