[swift-evolution] Arrays Returning Optionals instead of Index Out of Bounds

[Vladimir.S]

Please find the related proposal which was formed after the long discussion 
in the list:

https://github.com/luish/swift-evolution/blob/proposal-lenient-collection-subscripts/proposals/nnnn-more-lenient-collections-subscripts.md

Here is the pull request on the swift-evolution repo:
https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/pull/328

On 23.06.2016 13:12, Andreas Ley via swift-evolution wrote:
> (First time using a mailing list; I hope this message ends up in the correct thread)
>
> This is a topic that comes up regularly on the Swift evolution mailing list and off it.
> After reading through all the respective threads again, there seem to be the following two camps:
>
> Arguments made for crashing when accessing a non-existent index:
> - fast
> - shows bugs quickly
>
> Arguments made in favor of returning an optional by default:
> - safe (as in "doesn't crash")
> - similar to what other modern languages do
> - what an unexperienced Swift developer would expect
>
> All are valid arguments, but for different use cases.
> In my opinion, the biggest problem is that there's no indication that subscripting can crash on the default array. Alternative subscripts for bounded access wouldn't solve this either.
>
> Maybe Swift should have two different array classes: A fast, fast-failing "UnsafeArray" and a default safe "Array". This would prevent unexpected crashes for new Swift programmers while still providing a faster alternative for those who do low-level stuff. The name "UnsafeArray" would clearly communicate that this class should be handled with care.
>
> - Andreas
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