<div dir="ltr">Well... While I think this could be a good idea, I think that the current implementation is already a “syntactic sugar” for the weak and strong dance. A simple `if let self = self` inside the closure (not allowed today) would be enough if we are going to change the current behaviour.<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>-Van</div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 4:23 PM, Evan Maloney via swift-evolution <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:swift-evolution@swift.org" target="_blank">swift-evolution@swift.org</a>></span> wrote:<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 style="margin:0px;text-indent:6px;line-height:normal;font-family:'Helvetica Neue'"><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px">Hello,</div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px"><br></div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px">I sent out an earlier draft of this proposal last week, and have updated it based on feedback from the list.</div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px"><br></div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px">The newer proposal now has a much smaller conceptual footprint to address concerns that the previous iteration was too complex and would lead to verbose notation within the capture lists.</div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px"><br></div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px"><div>You can find the updated gist <a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440" target="_blank">here</a>, as well as pasted below.</div></div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px"><br></div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px">Evan</div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px"><br></div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px">---</div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px"><br></div><div style="font-family:Courier;text-indent:0px"><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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';background-color:rgb(255,255,255);margin-top:0px!important">Simplified notation for avoiding the <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><pre style="overflow:auto;font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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)">-></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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Here, the <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">For example, imagine a hypothetical <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><pre style="overflow:auto;font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">You'll notice the <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Because the <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">In this case, after a <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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't really want the closure doing anything. So, we capture <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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't hold a reference to the owning <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">When it comes time to execute the closure, the <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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, "Is <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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?" 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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">If <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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's execution.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">When the closure is done executing, <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Further, using a consistent name like <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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't be enforced by the compiler, so searching your codebase for a given keyword won't be exhaustive if team members use the wrong name.</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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><pre style="overflow:auto;font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Here, the <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><li>Captures <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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 becomes a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOP" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">no-op</a>; calling the closure returns immediately without anything inside the braces being executed</li><li>If <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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's execution. Within the closure, <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#non-self-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>Non-<code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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">self</code> References</h3><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Because <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> is an additional capture type, like <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> and <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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">unowned</code>, it can also be used to capture references other than <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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>:</p><div style="margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><pre style="overflow:auto;font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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 being asked to execute</span>
}</pre></div><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">When encountering multiple references being captured via <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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>, the closure will execute <strong>only</strong> when <em>all</em> references are still alive when the closure is being asked to execute.</p><h3 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.43;font-size:1.5em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#limitations" 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>Limitations</h3><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Because <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> is a special capture type that causes the closure to become a no-op once a referenced object deallocates, it is only designed to be used with closures returning <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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>.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">This limitation was deemed acceptable because it would cover the vast majority of cases, and those that it didn't cover can still fall back on the existing technique.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The compiler should emit an error if this notation is used in conjunction with a closure that has a non-<code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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.</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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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,'Liberation Mono',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. Therefore, <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> within <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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">[</code>square brackets <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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">]</code> should be seen as a capture type on par with <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> or <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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">unowned</code>.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Unlike with a typical <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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, we are not attempting to support an <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> or <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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 any boolean expressions within this notation.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Rather, we're simply adding a new capture behavior and providing a means to specify an early exit if the behavior couldn't be fulfilled because one or more objects was deallocated.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The word <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> was chosen as the capture type because (1) it functions as a guard, ensuring that the closure doesn't execute unless the specified objects are still alive, and (2) it obviates the need for the full-fledged <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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 that would otherwise be required to achieve the same result.</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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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,'Liberation Mono',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 "<code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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>" is all that'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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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'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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#closures-with-an-optional-return-type" 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 an <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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">Optional</code> Return Type</h3><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">One possible addition to this proposal would extend support to any closure returning an <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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">Optional</code> of some kind.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">If one of the objects in a <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> capture list has been deallocated, executing the closure will always result in an immediate <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> return.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">This idea was excluded from this iteration of the proposal due to a concern that it relied on a "magic return value" (albeit a reasonable one) and a perception that the community favored a solution with a smaller conceptual footprint.</p><h3 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.43;font-size:1.5em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#closures-with-a-bool-return-type" 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 a <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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">Bool</code> Return Type</h3><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">One possible addition to this proposal would extend support to any closure returning a <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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">Bool</code>.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">If one of the objects in a <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> capture list has been deallocated, executing the closure will always result in an immediate <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> return.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">This idea was excluded from this iteration of the proposal due to a concern that it relied on a "magic return value" (albeit a reasonable one) and a perception that the community favored a solution with a smaller conceptual footprint.</p><h3 style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.43;font-size:1.5em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://gist.github.com/emaloney/d34ac9b134ece7c60440#closures-with-arbitrary-return-types" 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 Arbitrary Return Types</h3><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">An earlier iteration of this proposal included support for closures with arbitrary return values. The community consensus was that the proposal was too heavy-weight and tried to do too much, and would lead to verbosity within the capture declaration. As a result, this idea was removed from the proposal.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The ability to handle non-<code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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 values relied on supporting an <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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 within a <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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>-based capture list:</p><div style="margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><pre style="overflow:auto;font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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> happinessLevel: () <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">-></span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">Int</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)">-1</span>] <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">in</span>
<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">var</span> level <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">=</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">0</span>
level <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>isHealthy <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">?</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">25</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">:</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">0</span>
level <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">+=</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)">?</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">25</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">:</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">0</span>
level <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">+=</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)">?</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">25</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">:</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">0</span>
level <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>hasLove <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">?</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">25</span> <span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">:</span> <span style="color:rgb(0,134,179)">0</span>
<span style="color:rgb(167,29,93)">return</span> level
}</pre></div><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Here, the <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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,'Liberation Mono',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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">In this example, if you call <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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">happinessLevel()</code> after <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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, the value <code style="font-family:Consolas,'Liberation Mono',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">-1</code> will always be returned.</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:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';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><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Variations on this proposal were discussed earlier in the following <a href="https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">swift-evolution</a> threads:</p><ul style="padding:0px 0px 0px 2em;margin-top:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,'Segoe UI',Arial,freesans,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:16px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);margin-bottom:0px!important"><li><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></li><li><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,'Liberation Mono',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></li><li><a href="https://lists.swift.org/pipermail/swift-evolution/Week-of-Mon-20160201/009241.html" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(64,120,192);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">[Draft Proposal] A simplified notation for avoiding the weak/strong dance with closure capture lists</a></li></ul><div><br></div></div></div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br></div>