Ask HN: Which function definition keyword do you prefer, def or fn?

1•winwang•12mo ago

I'm curious about what people think of `def` vs `fn`, two short keywords for starting function definitions.

...Or maybe we should subscribe to the church of `df`, haha.

Comments

sitkack•12mo ago

def could be for lots of things, fn is for functions. I don't think it matters much as long as you have one. C would have been so much easier to parse. Just copy Zig or Rust.

butlersean•12mo ago

def means define, could be used to define all kinds of things

fn isnt a legitimate short form of function

fun doesnt work because of the amusement factor

func is the only alternative we have left

sitkack•12mo ago

How about unicode or emojis?

These don't have the full fidelity as hn scrubs emojis

add = (a, b) -> a + b

a, b ⟹ a + b

λ add(a, b): ↪ a + b

johncoltrane•12mo ago

"def" is too generic.

"fn" is too cryptic.

"function" is better than the two.

MultifokalHirn•12mo ago

Agreed

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