<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">On Mar 14, 2016, at 5:51 PM, Dmitri Gribenko via swift-evolution <<a href="mailto:swift-evolution@swift.org" class="">swift-evolution@swift.org</a>> wrote:<br class=""><br class="">Optional.map returns an Optional.<br class=""><br class="">Array.map returns an Array.<br class="">Set.map returns an Array.<br class=""><any other collection>.map returns an Array.<br class=""><br class="">I can't say that it is not valid to think about an Optional as a tiny<br class="">collection, but as implemented in Swift, .map() does objectively<br class="">behave differently...<br class=""></blockquote><div class="">That behavior is, at least partially, because protocols don’t currently support this:</div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><div style="font-family: Menlo; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">protocol</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> CollectionType {</span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo; margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(187, 44, 162);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">typealias</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> T</span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: rgb(187, 44, 162);" class="">func</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class=""> map<U>(transform: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: rgb(112, 61, 170);" class="">T</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class="">-></span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: rgb(112, 61, 170);" class="">U</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class="">) -> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: rgb(112, 61, 170);" class="">Self</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class=""><</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: rgb(79, 129, 135);" class="">U</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class="">> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 132, 0); font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class="">// error: Cannot specialize non-generic type 'Self'</span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}</span></div><div class="">I *think* I remember reading on here somewhere that the intent is to change map and flatMap to return “Self<U>" pretty much as soon as the language supports it. Someone from Apple would have to confirm that, though… my memory is quite hazy on the matter.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">More to the point, in terms of what you could actual do with a variable, there’s no real difference between:</div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">var</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> foo: [</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">Int</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">] = []</span></div></div><div class="">and</div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><div style="font-family: Menlo; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><font color="#bb2ca2" class="">var</font> foo: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">Int</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">? = </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">nil</span></div><div class="">In both cases you have to check foo's “count” so to speak, before you can safely access its element(s), otherwise the most you can do is pass it along to some other code. If the language had the features to support it, Optional could literally be defined like this:</div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">typealias</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> Optional<T> = Array<T </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">where</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">self</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">.count <= </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #272ad8" class="">1</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">></span></div></div><div class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">While the syntax of how we’d interact with Optionals might change, </span>functionally speaking, I can’t think of any difference at all. Both provide storage for a variable # of elements (only slightly variable in Optional’s case, but variable none the less), both throw equally fatal errors if you try to access elements that don’t exist, and provide quick access to those that do exist. Furthermore, within the limitation of how many “elements” an Optional can store, it’s trivial to convert between the two types:</div></div></div><div class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo; color: rgb(187, 44, 162);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">extension</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">Array</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">init</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">(</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">_</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> x: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">Element</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">?) {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">switch</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> x {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">case</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> .None: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">self</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> = []</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">case</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> .Some(</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">let</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> value): </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">self</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> = [value]</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> }</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> }</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo; color: rgb(187, 44, 162);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">extension</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">Optional</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">init</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">(arrayLiteral elements: [</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">Optional</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">.</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">Wrapped</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">]) {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">switch</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> elements.</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">count</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">case</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #272ad8" class="">0</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">self</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> = .</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #3d1d81" class="">None</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">case</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">_</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">self</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> = .</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #3d1d81" class="">Some</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">(elements[</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #272ad8" class="">0</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">])</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> }</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> }</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">All this suggests, to me anyway, that at least in this regard, they’re the same “meta type”. What’s the harm in having the API reflect that?</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">- Dave Sweeris</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">P.S. Should we be having this conversation in a different thread? I’m *really* bad about going down every rabbit hole I can find, and I don’t want to upset the mailing list by dragging them along with me...</span></div></span></div></div></div></body></html>