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

[Erica Sadun]

> On May 10, 2016, at 2:58 PM, Chris Lattner via swift-evolution <swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:
>> On May 10, 2016, at 12:36 PM, Tony Allevato <allevato at google.com <mailto:allevato at google.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> Likewise for function calls; I would argue that if a function call/definition's parameter list is likely to grow so much and/or so frequently that a trailing comma provides significant savings, that's a code smell that should encourage the author to redesign the function.
> 
> FWIW, I personally agree with this observation.
> 
> Parameter lists and tuples are also structurally different than collections.  Parameter lists also have labels, and (depending on how the ‘disable reordering default arguments’ decision goes) parameters may not be added and reordered arbitrarily.  Tuples are different because adding a member will often break all the code downstream because it changes the type of the value.  This is different than array and dictionary literals.
> 
> The only “collection like” aspect I can think of is for variadic parameter lists, but I don’t think they’re common enough to provide a special case for.


I agree that the trailing comma offers its best support for situations that express variadic properties. I propose that all three of the following scenarios share this nature:
At call sites with variadic arguments
At call sites with defaulted arguments
At definition sites with large complex argument lists or tuple members
It's slightly easier to make the case for call sites, the first two of these uses, as they exactly mirror the way collections parse members. Supporting the third style of trailing commas requires the consideration of real world modern Swift. 

Allowing cut and paste or commenting of entire parameter lines means simple changes do not ripple out to affect other lines. In this, trailing commas serve programmer intent and limit the effect in diff comparisons. As Joe pointed out in one of his responses on this thread, one edit becomes one diff, without extra housekeeping for other affected lines. When considered together, I do believe the use cases for these scenarios are common enough to be considered something other than a "special case". 

Given that SE-0060 is accepted, the third case is narrowed but should not be ignored. Reordering and commenting out lines during prototyping, working in playgrounds, and scripting is still common. Also, a reorder or comment when trailing commas are permitted ensures that such changes are single-point edits. 

As Brent points out in his review, "I was skeptical of this until a week or two ago, when I had some code where I ended up commenting out certain parameters." Trailing commas, although a minor feature in a major language, still serves the developer and supports the overall philosophy of Swift, which is as you have pointed out multiple times, an opinionated language.

-- E

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.swift.org/pipermail/swift-evolution/attachments/20160512/29eb9422/attachment.html>