[swift-evolution] [Idea] Add `bounds` function to standard library

[Pyry Jahkola]

> On 25 Aug 2016, at 12:05, Nicholas Maccharoli wrote:
> 
> I personally see merit in adding a function to bound the value of a variable within a range and think it would be simple to write with the existing implementations of `min` and `max` with something like:
> 
>     public func bounds<T : Comparable>(value: T, _ lower: T, _ upper: T) -> T {
>         return max(lower, min(value, upper))
>     }
> 
> Does this sound like something the community thinks would be worthwhile to add?

I'd welcome that addition. In terms of function interface, I think we can do better than the 3-argument `clamp(x, min, max)` function that is seen in several math libraries.

Our ***Range types already have a `clamped(to:)` member function, e.g. here's one for ClosedRange <https://developer.apple.com/reference/swift/closedrange/1779071-clamped>. It creates a new range constraining the receiver's bounds within the new bounds given as argument.

I think the sensible thing would be to add a similar, and equally named, method to the Comparable protocol, taking in the ClosedRange<Self> to limit the value to:

    extension Comparable {
      public func clamped(to limits: ClosedRange<Self>) -> Self {
        return self < limits.lowerBound ? limits.lowerBound
             : self > limits.upperBound ? limits.upperBound
             : self
      }
    }

    (-0.1).clamped(to: 0 ... 1)       // 0.0
    3.14.clamped(to: 0 ... .infinity) // 3.14
    "foo".clamped(to: "a" ... "f")    // "f"
    "foo".clamped(to: "a" ... "g")    // "foo"

From my experience, I'd say it'd be most useful for clamping floating-point numbers and collection indices.

— Pyry

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