Lambda the Ultimate

What kind of task is Ragel good for?

• Lexing programming languages.
• Parsing file formats.
• Creating robust custom protocols.
• Checking your "Theory of Computation" homework.

Features

• Describe arbitrary state machines using regular language operators and/or state tables.
• NFA to DFA conversion.
• Hopcroft's state minimization.
• Embed any number of actions into machines at arbitrary places.
• Control non-determinism using priorities on transitions.
• Visualize output with Graphviz.
• Use byte, double byte or word sized alphabets.
• Generate C/C++/Objective-C code with no dependencies.
• Choose from table or control flow driven output.

Been reading LtU for a while and some of the topics discussed have encouraged me to try using some of the more advanced functions supported by JavaScript. I'm pretty sure I'm using closures, but had a few questions-

js closures?

...so my questions are:

If the form is:

someId = window.setInterval( ... );

...is there a way to pass someId back into the function that was created? In OO terms, something like the following:

closure = new SomeThingy();
someId = window.setInterval( closure, 1000 );
closure.setSomeExtraValue( someId );

...and is the explanation in the blog post fairly accurate?

Thanks!

--Robert