Closure Puzzlers: Greetings

If you have read my previous post on the basics of the Java closures proposal, then you might enjoy the puzzler below. A double-reference to Neal Gafter: it uses his recent prototype and is in the vein of Java Puzzlers.

This is not designed to be an elegant example: I was experimenting with closure literals, function types, and free lexical bindings. 'Tis a simple introduction... A greeting, if you will.

What is the output from the following program?

public class Greetings {
  static private Object freeVar = null;

  static public void main(String[] args) {
    { String => String } greetings = null;

    // @param greeting
    // @free freeVar
    // @returns a simple message String
    greetings = { String greeting =>
                           greeting + ", I am " + freeVar };

    freeVar = "a free variable!";
    System.out.println( greetings.invoke("Hello") );

    freeVar = new StringBuffer("a new ").append("value");
    System.out.println( greetings.invoke("Bonjour") );

    freeVar = greetings;
    System.out.println( greetings.invoke("Hola") );

    freeVar = { String self => self }.invoke("my self");
    System.out.println( greetings.invoke("Shalom") );

    freeVar = { => freeVar + " too" }.invoke();
    System.out.println( greetings.invoke("Namaste") );  
  } 
}

Don't cheat but here is the output. If you understand this output, then you understand the content of the original post.

$ newJava.bat Greetings

Hello, I am a free variable!
Bonjour, I am a new value
Hola, I am Greetings$1@10385c1
Shalom, I am my self
Namaste, I am my self too

I won't explain everything but here is a brief annotation:

• The local variable, greetings, is declared with its function type, and initialized to null. This is a separate line in order to emphasize that it is a local variable with a new, strange type.
• We assign a closure literal to greetings. Note that it uses a 'free lexical binding' called freeVar. One issue with the current prototype is that it does not yet bind local variables (hence the static member field).
• We alter freeVar in various ways and let greetings construct a message based on its toString() method.
• Note that the last greeting uses a truly literal closure that is invoked in situ.
  

Fun! If you liked this one, stay tuned for more.