[swift-evolution] [Review] SE-0084: Allow trailing commas in parameter lists and tuples

[Matthew Johnson]

Sent from my iPad

> On May 11, 2016, at 11:11 AM, Erica Sadun via swift-evolution <swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:
> 
> 
>>> On May 11, 2016, at 9:42 AM, Evan Maloney <emaloney at gilt.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I’m going to propose the keyword #litter as an alias for , so I can throw garbage syntax into my code more effectively seven letters at time :P
>> 
>> ;-)
> 
> :P
> 
> One of the most interesting things about this whole comma proposal is how Swifty ("keeping in the feel and direction of Swift") it is to use multiple lines for functions and methods both in definition and at call sites. Swift may be "succinct" but in terms of generics, defaults, and external labels, it's absolutely ridiculous to try to limit signatures to single lines. The only way to deal with common Swift complexity is to structure what in any other language would be a single line into multiple lines. Here are a couple of examples pulled from stdlib:
> 
>   public func split(
>     separator: Iterator.Element,
>     maxSplits: Int = Int.max,
>     omittingEmptySubsequences: Bool = true
>   ) -> [SubSequence] { ... }
> 
> and
> 
> public func transcode<
>   Input : IteratorProtocol,
>   InputEncoding : UnicodeCodec,
>   OutputEncoding : UnicodeCodec
>   where InputEncoding.CodeUnit == Input.Element
> >(
>   _ input: Input,
>   from inputEncoding: InputEncoding.Type,
>   to outputEncoding: OutputEncoding.Type,
>   stoppingOnError stopOnError: Bool,
>   sendingOutputTo processCodeUnit: @noescape (OutputEncoding.CodeUnit) -> Void
> ) -> Bool { ... }
> 
> My call for commas crosses into two other discussions that are happening right now on Swift Evolution: moving where clauses to the end of declarations (yes please) and whether to force defaulted parameters to appear in order at call sites (no thank you). Thinking about commas from this point of view can be  disconcerting because when you think "What is Swift", the phrase that pops to mind is always "clarity and concision" but real world Swift declarations are anything but.  Clear? They can be with carefully considered folding. Concise? Not especially.
> 
> I hope that anyone considering this proposal will think carefully about real world Swift like the examples I've pasted above and the others I've used in previous replies rather than some theoretical ideal where excess punctuation at the end of a declaration or call site is an actual silly eyesore:
> 
> func foo(a: T, b: U,) // not especially reflective of real world use
> 
> Because in the end this proposal should succeed or fail based on actual code enhancement and the gains that are to be accrued in real world use and not due to a simple taste factor.

+1

> 
> -- E
> 
> 
> 
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