<div dir="ltr"><div>I liked this proposal until the capture list took another resposibility to be a fast path for a closure :)</div><div>Is it such common situation when we want return value in any case without ensuring lifetime of closure&#39; context? For me if closure depends on anything which is deallocated, then result could not be computed so it is &#39;nil&#39;. Caller side could decide what to do with that &#39;nil&#39;.</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">2016-02-06 8:17 GMT+03:00 Evan Maloney via swift-evolution <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:swift-evolution@swift.org" target="_blank">swift-evolution@swift.org</a>&gt;</span>:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div>Hello,</div><div><br></div><div>This draft proposal is a follow-up to the previous threads: &quot;Wanted: syntactic sugar for [weak self] callbacks&quot; and &quot;Allowing guard let self = self else { … } for weakly captured self in a closure.&quot;</div><div><br></div><div><div>A gist for this draft <a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440" target="_blank">exists here</a>.</div></div><div><br></div><div>Comments welcome!</div><div><br></div><div>E.</div><div><br></div><div>---</div><div><br></div><div><h1 style="font-size:2.25em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:16px;margin-left:0px;line-height:1.2;padding-bottom:0.3em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(238,238,238);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);margin-top:0px!important">Simplified notation for avoiding the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:inherit;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">[weak self]</code>/<code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:inherit;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">strongSelf</code> dance with closures</h1><ul style="padding:0px 0px 0px 2em;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><li>Proposal: TBD</li><li>Author: <a href="https://github.com/emaloney" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Evan Maloney</a></li><li>Status: <strong>Draft</strong></li><li>Review manager: TBD</li></ul><h2 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.225;font-size:1.75em;padding-bottom:0.3em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(238,238,238);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#introduction" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Introduction</h2><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Frequently, closures are used as completion callbacks for asynchronous operations, such as when dealing with network requests. It is quite common to model these sorts of operations in such a way that an object instance represents a request/response transaction, for example:</p><div style="margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><pre style="overflow:auto;font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;line-height:1.45;padding:16px;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px;word-wrap:normal;word-break:normal"><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">protocol</span> NetworkTransaction: <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">class</span>
{
    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">enum</span> Result {
        <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">case</span> Succeeded(NSData)
        <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">case</span> Failed(<span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">ErrorType</span>)
    }

    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">func</span> <span style="color:rgb(121,93,163)">execute</span>(completion: (Result) <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">-&gt;</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">Void</span>)
}</pre></div><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Here, the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">NetworkTransaction</code> protocol declares the interface by which an asynchronous transaction occurs. The user of a <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">NetworkTransaction</code> calls the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">execute()</code> function, passing in a completion function that is called at some time in the future, when the transaction completes.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">For example, imagine a hypothetical <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">DataConsumer</code> class that uses a transaction to try to fetch some network data and process it:</p><div style="margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><pre style="overflow:auto;font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;line-height:1.45;padding:16px;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px;word-wrap:normal;word-break:normal"><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">class</span> DataConsumer
{
    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">let</span> transaction: NetworkTransaction

    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">init</span>(transaction: NetworkTransaction)
    {
        <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>transaction <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">=</span> transaction
    }

    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">func</span> <span style="color:rgb(121,93,163)">fetchData</span>()
    {
        transaction<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>execute() { [<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">weak</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span>] result <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">in</span>
            <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">guard</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">let</span> strongSelf <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">=</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">else</span> { <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">return</span> }

            <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">switch</span> result {
            <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">case</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>Succeeded(<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">let</span> data):
                strongSelf<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>processData(data)

            <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">case</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>Failed(<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">let</span> err):
                strongSelf<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>handleError(err)
            }
        }
    }

    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">func</span> <span style="color:rgb(121,93,163)">processData</span>(data: NSData) 
    {
        <span style="color:rgb(150,152,150)">// process the data</span>
    }

    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">func</span> <span style="color:rgb(121,93,163)">handleError</span>(error: <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">ErrorType</span>)
    {
        <span style="color:rgb(150,152,150)">// handle the error</span>
    }
}</pre></div><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">You&#39;ll notice the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">[weak self]</code>/<code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">strongSelf</code> dance in the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">fetchData()</code> function. This is a common pattern with asynchronously-executed closures, and it signals the possibility that a closure might outlive its usefulness.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Because the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">NetworkTransaction</code> may complete at any time, it is possible that the closure will execute after the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">DataConsumer</code> that initiated the transaction has been deallocated. Perhaps the user has navigated elsewhere in the application and whatever data was to be fetched by <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">DataConsumer</code> is no longer needed.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">In this case, after a <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">DataConsumer</code> instance goes away, we don&#39;t really want the closure doing anything. So, we capture <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code> weakly to ensure that the closure doesn&#39;t hold a reference to the owning <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">DataConsumer</code>. That prevents a reference cycle and ensures that <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">DataConsumer</code> can be deallocated when no longer in use.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">When it comes time to execute the closure, the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">guard</code> statement effectively asks the question, &quot;Is <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code> still alive?&quot; If the answer is no, the guard forces a return and the rest of the closure does not execute.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">If <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code> <em>is</em> still alive, then the weakly-captured <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code> will be non-<code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">nil</code> and it will be converted into a strong reference held by <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">strongSelf</code> for the duration of the closure&#39;s execution.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">When the closure is done executing, <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">strongSelf</code> goes away, once again making the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">DataConsumer</code> eligible for deallocation when no other references are held.</p><h2 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.225;font-size:1.75em;padding-bottom:0.3em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(238,238,238);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#the-problem" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>The Problem</h2><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">[weak self]</code>/<code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">strongSelf</code> dance requires common boilerplate wherever it is used, and the fact that a <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code>-like variable with an arbitrary name adds noise within the closure. The more <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">strongSelf</code> is needed within the closure, the more noise there is.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Further, using a consistent name like <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">strongSelf</code> is by convention only; it can&#39;t be enforced by the compiler, so searching your codebase for a given keyword won&#39;t be exhaustive if team members use different names.</p><h2 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.225;font-size:1.75em;padding-bottom:0.3em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(238,238,238);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#proposed-solution" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Proposed Solution</h2><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The proposed solution adds a new capture type by repurposing the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">guard</code> keyword for another use, which would look like:</p><div style="margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><pre style="overflow:auto;font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;line-height:1.45;padding:16px;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px;word-wrap:normal;word-break:normal">transaction<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>execute() { [<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">guard</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span>] result <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">in</span>
    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">switch</span> result {
    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">case</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>Succeeded(<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">let</span> data):
        <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>processData(data)

    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">case</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>Failed(<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">let</span> err):
        <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>handleError(err)
    }
}</pre></div><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Here, the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">[guard self]</code> capture list serves as a signal that the compiler should handle the weak/strong dance itself. When encountering <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">[guard self]</code>, the compiler should emit code that does the following:</p><ul style="padding:0px 0px 0px 2em;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><li>Captures <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code> in a weak reference on behalf of the closure</li><li>Whenever the closure is about to be executed, the weak reference is checked to see if <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code> is still alive<ul style="padding:0px 0px 0px 2em;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px"><li>If <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code> is not alive, the closure returns immediately and nothing within the braces is executed</li><li>If <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code> is alive, it is upgraded to a strong reference for the lifetime of the closure&#39;s execution. Within the closure, <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code> is non-optional, unlike how it would be with a <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">[weak self]</code> capture. When the closure is done executing, the strong reference will be cleared and only the weak reference will be held on behalf of the closure.</li></ul></li></ul><h3 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.43;font-size:1.5em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#closures-with-return-values" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1.2" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Closures with Return Values</h3><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">For closures with a <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">Void</code> return type, the notation is simple, because no explicit value is expected as a result of executing the closure.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Closures with a return value will require an <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">else</code> clause:</p><div style="margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><pre style="overflow:auto;font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;line-height:1.45;padding:16px;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px;word-wrap:normal;word-break:normal"><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">let</span> pollHappiness: () <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">-&gt;</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">Bool</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">=</span> { [<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">guard</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">else</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">false</span>] <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">in</span>
    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">return</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>isHealthy <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">&amp;&amp;</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">!</span><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>isHungry <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">&amp;&amp;</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">!</span><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>isFearful <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">&amp;&amp;</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>hasLove
}</pre></div><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Here, the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">else</code> clause provides a value to return in cases where <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code> has gone away and the guard fails.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">In this example, if you call <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">pollHappiness()</code> after <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code> has been deallocated, <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">false</code> will always be returned.</p><h3 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.43;font-size:1.5em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#capturing-other-references" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1.2" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Capturing Other References</h3><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">This notation is not limited to handling <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code>. These capture lists are valid, too:</p><div style="margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><pre style="overflow:auto;font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;line-height:1.45;padding:16px;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px;word-wrap:normal;word-break:normal"><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">let</span> capturingTwo <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">=</span> { [<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">guard</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span>, button] <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">in</span>
    <span style="color:rgb(150,152,150)">// weakly capture self and button</span>
    <span style="color:rgb(150,152,150)">// but execute the closure with strong references</span>
    <span style="color:rgb(150,152,150)">// if and only if self and button still exist</span>
    <span style="color:rgb(150,152,150)">// when the closure is about to execute</span>
}

<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">let</span> captureWithReturn: () <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">-&gt;</span> UIView <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">=</span> {
    [<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">guard</span> button, window <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">=</span> button<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">!.</span>window <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">else</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">nil</span>] <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">in</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">...</span>

    <span style="color:rgb(150,152,150)">// window is captured and stored weakly at the time the</span>
    <span style="color:rgb(150,152,150)">// closure declaration is encountered during execution;</span>
    <span style="color:rgb(150,152,150)">// button is guaranteed to be non-nil at that time, but</span>
    <span style="color:rgb(150,152,150)">// it may go away later, so we guard on button too</span>
} </pre></div><h2 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.225;font-size:1.75em;padding-bottom:0.3em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(238,238,238);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#caveats" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Caveats</h2><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">This notation is not intended to be a full-fledged replacement for guard statements within the closure. We are only using <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">guard</code> here as a way to declare a specific memory-management behavior for references.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">As a result, we are not attempting to support a <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">where</code> clause or boolean expressions within this notation. </p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Rather, we&#39;re simply adding a new capture behavior and providing a means to specify an early exit if the behavior couldn&#39;t be fulfilled because one or more of the required objects was deallocated before the closure was executed.</p><h2 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.225;font-size:1.75em;padding-bottom:0.3em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(238,238,238);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#impact-on-existing-code" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Impact on Existing Code</h2><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">None, since this does not affect any existing constructs. Implementation of this proposal will not result in any code breakage.</p><h2 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.225;font-size:1.75em;padding-bottom:0.3em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(238,238,238);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#alternatives-considered" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Alternatives Considered</h2><h3 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.43;font-size:1.5em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#status-quo" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1.2" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Status Quo</h3><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The primary alternative is to do nothing, requiring developers to add boilerplate guard code and handle upgrading the weak-to-strong references manually.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">As stated above, this leads to needless boilerplate that can easily be factored out by the compiler. Also, the use of a <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">self</code>-like variable with an arbitrary name makes it more difficult to exhaustively find such uses in large projects. With this proposal, searching for the text &quot;<code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">[guard</code>&quot; is all that&#39;s necessary to find all instances of this memory management technique.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Finally, the need to declare and use alternate names to capture values that already have existing names adds visual clutter to code and serves to obscure the code&#39;s original intent, making it harder to reason about.</p><h3 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.43;font-size:1.5em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#alternate-notations" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1.2" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Alternate Notations</h3><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The notation proposed above was chosen for concision. Two variations were considered, but rejected, because they add words to the statements without adding meaning.</p><h4 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.4;font-size:1.25em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#requiring-weak-after-guard" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1.2" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Requiring <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:inherit;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">weak</code> after <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:inherit;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">guard</code></h4><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">This alternate notation used a <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">weak</code> keyword after the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">guard</code> keyword in the capture list, eg. <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">[guard weak self]</code> instead of <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">[guard self]</code>.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The use of the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">weak</code> keyword did not modify behavior in any way, so it was removed from the proposal to be less verbose.</p><h4 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.4;font-size:1.25em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#requiring-return-after-else" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1.2" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Requiring <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:inherit;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">return</code> after <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:inherit;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">else</code></h4><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">A longer notation requiring the <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">return</code> keyword for closures specifying return values was considered, but rejected, for similar reasons.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Such a notation would make <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">[guard self else nil]</code> look like <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">[guard self else return nil]</code>.</p><h4 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.4;font-size:1.25em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#requiring-both" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1.2" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Requiring both</h4><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">If both keywords above were required, the verbiage would become quite unwieldy in the closure&#39;s capture list, which often appears on the same line after the opening parenthesis, which itself is often indented:</p><div style="margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><pre style="overflow:auto;font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;line-height:1.45;padding:16px;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px;word-wrap:normal;word-break:normal"><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">let</span> toggleHappyButton: () <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">-&gt;</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">Bool</span>? <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">=</span> { [<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">guard</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">weak</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span>, button <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">else</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">return</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">nil</span>] <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">in</span>
    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">let</span> state <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">=</span> button<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>highlighted
    button<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>highlighted <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">=</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">self</span><span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">.</span>pollHappiness()
    <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">return</span> state
}</pre></div><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">That seems longer than necessary.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">For the reasons above, the two keywords above were not included in this proposal.</p><h2 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.225;font-size:1.75em;padding-bottom:0.3em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(238,238,238);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#citations" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;padding-right:2px;line-height:1" target="_blank"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></a>Citations</h2><div style="margin-top:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:&#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,&#39;Segoe UI&#39;,Arial,freesans,sans-serif,&#39;Apple Color Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Emoji&#39;,&#39;Segoe UI Symbol&#39;;font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);margin-bottom:0px!important">Variations on this proposal were discussed earlier in the swift-evolution threads &quot;<a href="https://lists.swift.org/pipermail/swift-evolution/Week-of-Mon-20160201/008713.html" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Wanted: syntactic sugar for [weak self] callbacks</a>&quot; and &quot;<a href="https://lists.swift.org/pipermail/swift-evolution/Week-of-Mon-20160201/009023.html" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Allowing <code style="font-family:Consolas,&#39;Liberation Mono&#39;,Menlo,Courier,monospace;font-size:14px;padding:0.2em 0px;margin:0px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.0392157);border-top-left-radius:3px;border-top-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-right-radius:3px;border-bottom-left-radius:3px">guard let self = self else { … }</code> for weakly captured self in a closure.</a>&quot;.</div></div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br></div>