Experimenting with the language I've found that select is defined in the global scope and its precedence is higher than local variables.
def example(select)
puts select
end
example 3
# Syntax error in eval:3: unexpected token: end (expecting when, else or end)
So experimenting with select step by step I get this:
select 1 end
# Syntax error in eval:3: unexpected token: end (expecting when, else or end)
and then
select when 1 end
# Syntax error in eval:1: invalid select when expression: must be an assignment or call
then
select when x = 1 end
# Syntax error in eval:1: invalid select when expression: must be an assignment or call
then
select when x
# Syntax error in eval:1: unexpected token: EOF (expecting ',', ';' or '
I'll skip ahead a few steps as you should have an idea of how I've come to my question…
select when x;
else y
end
# Error in line 1: undefined local variable or method 'x_select_action'
and lastly
x_select_action = 4
select when x;
else y
end
# Error in line 3: undefined method 'x_select_action' (If you declared 'x_select_action' in a suffix if, declare it in a regular if for this to work. If the variable was declared in a macro it's not visible outside it)
So there is this keyword in the language which precedes local variables precedence and I don't know what it's for. But apparently it looks for x_select_action when x is given as a when clause. What is this select for and how is it meant to be used?
Searching online I see select defined on Enumerable, Hash, Channel, and Array… but at first glance these don't seem to be it.
Thanks for the help!
It's similar to Go's select: https://tour.golang.org/concurrency/5
But it still needs some tweaks to be finished, that's why there are no docs about it yet.