Can anonymous functions be imported into other modules?

Nope, that’s not what that does. power_nap is a local variable inside of the do block but it doesn’t stick around after the module is compiled and it isn’t visible outside.

Also, an linguistic nitpick: an “anonymous function” would be a function without a name - but the intent of the code you posted is to name the function PowerNapper.power_nap!

What specifically were you hoping to get with this approach, compared to doing a standard def power_nap do in Servy.PowerNapper?

Related:

defmodule Servy.PowerNapperClient do
  alias Servy.PowerNapper

  parent = self()
  spawn(fn -> send(parent, {:slept, PowerNapper.power_nap.()}) end)

self() here will be the Elixir compiler! The receive will happen while PowerNapperClient is being compiled.

Nope, that’s not what that does. power_nap is a local variable inside of the do block but it doesn’t stick around after the module is compiled and it isn’t visible outside.

Thanks, this clicked! It wasn’t a function definition.

Edit: Yes it was a function definition, assigned to a variable. Kinda like... a closure? I just needed an excuse to flex these newly-acquired triple backticks.

… an “anonymous function” would be a function without a name - but the intent of the code you posted is to name the function…"

Yep, I did think about this! An anon function would not be named. That is indeed a misnomer.

This is sample code from the course I’m taking. Please see the attached screen shot. However, separating the calling code into its own module was my idea.

Screen Shot 2023-02-17 at 12.59.26 AM1200×858 55.1 KB

My guy… triple backticks…

The only things “exported” out of a module are public functions, i.e. anything defined by def.

* Public types too
** Public submodules also
*** Now I’m questioning all of reality… what else??

Testing new superpower...

Thanks dude.