# Exact affine scopes

Ordinary [affine locals](index.md) are destroyed automatically at their
lexical boundary, but they may also be moved, returned, or dropped early. `with`
gives an affine value a stricter contract: one exact extent whose visible name
is a borrow.

```nupp:playground
local soa = nupp.mem.soa

local struct Position
    x: float
    velocity: float
end

local positions = soa.allocate(ffi.typeof<Position>(), 128)
with rows = positions:write() do
    for index = 1, #rows do
        rows[index].x += rows[index].velocity
    end
end
```

The hidden owner is dropped when the body falls through, returns, raises, or
leaves through loop control or an outward `goto`. For writable
[SoA](../data/structure-of-arrays.md) and [span](nupp.mem.span) views, dropping only
ends the exclusive borrow: stores already changed the original columns, so the
scope performs no flush or copy.

## Syntax

One acquisition is the common form:

```nupp
with file = openFile(path) do
    print(file:read("*a"))
end
```

Several resources may share an extent. Acquisitions run left to right and
terminals run in reverse order:

```nupp
with
    input = openFile(source, "rb"),
    output = openFile(target, "wb")
do
    output:write(input:read("*a"))
end
```

A binding may have an underlying representation type annotation:

```nupp
with file: FileHandle = openFile(path) do
    use(file)
end
```

`with` is contextual. It introduces a scope only at statement position when a
name and `=` or `:` follow it, so `local with = function(...) ... end` remains
ordinary Lua-compatible code. See
[syntax.md](../../language/syntax.md#keywords-are-contextual) for the other contextual words.

## Visible names are borrows

The acquisition must produce a non-optional `affine(T, terminal)` value. The
compiler moves that owner into an inaccessible slot and binds the authored name
as a scoped borrow of `T`. Code in the body can read and mutate through that
borrow, but cannot:

- move it into a `takes` parameter;
- return it or store it in a longer-lived value;
- capture it in an escaping closure;
- assign a replacement to it; or
- invoke `drop` on it directly.

Those rules make cleanup unconditional without an "already closed" flag. If a
value needs to move or end early, use an ordinary affine local and
[`drop`](index.md#discharging-an-owner):

```nupp
local rows = positions:write()
update(rows)
drop rows
```

::: deepdive
This construct survives beside automatic destruction because it guarantees
something automatic destruction cannot: that the value is inaccessible and
cannot escape, over one exact extent. It was in fact removed once the general
case was covered, and then restored. A general feature subsumes a specific one
only when it provides the specific one's guarantee, not merely its common use
case.
:::

## Failure and control flow

Each successful acquisition is registered before the next begins. If a later
acquisition fails, earlier owners still drop. Every terminal is attempted even
if another terminal raises.

When both the body and cleanup fail, the body error stays primary and cleanup
errors are attached as suppressed failures. When only cleanup fails, its first
failure is primary. A single failure is rethrown unchanged.

`return`, `break`, `continue`, and an outward `goto` cross the cleanup region
and resume only after its terminals run. A `goto` cannot enter a `with` body and
bypass acquisition.

## Runtime cost

Affine wrappers and `with` bindings are erased; the acquired value itself is not
copied or boxed. The generated code uses the same cleanup-region machinery as
automatic lexical destruction. When the body has ordinary fallthrough, every
reachable operation is proven non-raising, and every terminal has a `noRaise`
guarantee, the compiler emits an ordinary block followed by direct terminal
calls. No `pcall`, `xpcall`, or closure is present in that form.

Uncertain or raising extents use a protected call, and a non-capturing body is
shared rather than rebuilt on each execution. Outward `return`, loop control,
`goto`, multiple acquisition, and nested cleanup keep this general lowering.
This is a control-flow cost, not a storage-layout or copy-back cost.

For data-oriented code, put `with` around the hot loop rather than inside it.
The loop then continues to access SoA columns directly, and
[`nupp bc --check`](../../performance/jit-trace-checking.md) reports whether anything in
it blocks a LuaJIT trace.

## FAQ

### When is `with` better than an ordinary affine local?

When the value must not escape and must not end early. An ordinary local can be
moved, returned, or dropped anywhere in its scope, while a `with` binding is a
borrow whose owner no code can name. See [Visible names are
borrows](#visible-names-are-borrows) for the operations it refuses.

### Does leaving the body early skip cleanup?

No. `return`, `break`, `continue`, an outward `goto`, and a raise all cross the
cleanup region, and the terminals run before control resumes outside it. See
[Failure and control flow](#failure-and-control-flow) for what happens when a
terminal itself fails.

### Does a writable view copy back at the end of the scope?

No. Stores through a writable SoA or span view already changed the original
columns, so dropping the hidden owner only ends the exclusive borrow. See
[structure-of-arrays.md](../data/structure-of-arrays.md#owners-and-row-views) for how
those views are acquired.

::: seealso
- [ownership.md](borrowing.md) for affine terminals, moves,
  aggregates, and unsafe representation boundaries
- [performance.md](../../performance/index.md#soa-columns) for what a hot loop
  over SoA columns lowers to
:::