[swift-evolution] Proposal: Bitmask-style syntax for Method Chaining

[Etan Kissling]

What about this?

let l = someViewController.view.layer
l.shadowColor = UIColor.grayColor().CGColor
l.shadowRadius = 5.0
l.shadowOffset = CGSizeMake(0.0, 0.5)
l.shadowOpacity = 0.75


> On 15 Dec 2015, at 22:48, Chuquimia, Max via swift-evolution <swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:
> 
> Greetings, fellow Swiftlets!
> 
> I am very interested to hear what you guys think about method chaining in a similar style to Swift’s bitmask handling.
> Yes, there’s a healthy discussion on “Setup Closures”, but let’s dispatch_async to start a new (albeit parallel) thread regarding a neat way to access properties.
> No doubt you’ve found yourself writing something similar to the following:
> 
> someViewController.view.layer.shadowColor = UIColor.grayColor().CGColor
> someViewController.view.layer.shadowRadius = 5.0
> someViewController.view.layer.shadowOffset = CGSizeMake(0.0, 0.5)
> someViewController.view.layer.shadowOpacity = 0.75
> It can be disturbing to see someViewController.view.layer repeated so many times, however we are currently unable to refactor these lines without subclassing and possibly affecting other areas of implementation.
> 
> What I propose is a natural way of assigning properties on layer with a syntax we are all already used to:
> 
> someViewController.view.layer = [
>     .shadowColor = UIColor.grayColor().CGColor,
>     .shadowRadius = 5.0,
>     .shadowOffset = CGSizeMake(0.0, 0.5),
>     .shadowOpacity = 0.75
> ]
> Which is of course similar to our belovèd someViewController.view.autoresizingMask = [.FlexibleWidth, .FlexibleHeight]
> 
> Of course, this is an extreme example of keypath length, however I believe this language feature would still be beneficial for shorter keypaths (think accessing self within closures or the recent proposal to reinstate self.)
> 
> Using [] instead of {} eliminates the risk of ambiguity if a method such as func layer(c: Void -> Void) has been defined in the view’s class. Apart from that, I can’t think of any possible conflicts, and as it’s an addition there will be no migration required when moving to a new language version
> 
> Interested in your thoughts,
> 
> MaxC
> 
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