[swift-evolution] Protocols and var { get }

[Frank Ecsedy]

Right. You could have a protocol X that hypothetically had something like
'let x' in it. If struct S implemented X and let x = 17 and class C
implemented X and let x = 42 you now have a let variable that could take on
multiple values depending on the implementing type which defeats the whole
point of the let in the first place. Not to mention what Dmitri said about
protocol implementers calculating the value of the let which would really
defeat the purpose. The syntax 'var ... { get }' is much more in line with
reality than 'let ...'.

On Friday, January 29, 2016, Brent Royal-Gordon <brent at architechies.com>
wrote:

> > So what about protocols requiring ‘var … { get }’ syntax for read only
> properties? Is there some sort of underlying reason for this confusing
> syntax instead of ‘let …’? Now that Swift allows deferred initialization of
> lets does this requirement make sense?
>
> `let` doesn't mean "no setter", it means "constant". For instance, you
> can't make a `weak let`, because the `weak` implies the variable can be
> nilled. There's no way to require a constant in a protocol, but if there
> were one, that's what `let ...` would mean.
>
> --
> Brent Royal-Gordon
> Architechies
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.swift.org/pipermail/swift-evolution/attachments/20160129/67eac7fd/attachment.html>