<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">With the transition from Swift 2 -> 3 I’ve started running into one particular issue VERY often (although it’s not necessarily specific to the transition). If a protocol method is optional (either because it is an @objc optional or because it has a default implementation) there is a risk that the conformer will have a misspelled or slightly incorrectly typed implementation of the method. For instance:<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">protocol</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> RouteDestinationViewController: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">class</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">static</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">func</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> viewController(with url: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">URL</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">, properties: [</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">String</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">:</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">String</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">]) -> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">UIViewController</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">?</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(79, 129, 135);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">extension</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">RouteDestinationViewController</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">where</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">Self</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class="">: UIViewController {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">static</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">func</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> viewController(with url: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">URL</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">, properties: [</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">String</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">:</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">String</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">]) -> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">UIViewController</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">? {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(187, 44, 162);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">return</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #4f8187" class="">Self</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class="">.</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">init</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class="">()</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>}</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(112, 61, 170);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">class</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> FooController: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">UIViewController</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class="">, </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">RouteDestinationViewController</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #000000" class=""> {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">static</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">func</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> viewController(with url: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">URL</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">, properties: [</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">String</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">:</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">Any</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">]) -> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">UIViewController</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">? {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">return</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> FooController(properties: properties)</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>}</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}</span></div></span></div></span></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class="">Notice the issue there? Properties is supposed to be [String:String], but FooController uses [String:Any] (this is an exact issue I ran into after a small refactor). When viewController(with:properties:) is called, it will use the default implementation instead of what the compiler sees as a completely different method. Over the betas the compiler has gotten better warnings about this, but is still not 100%.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Other cases of this issue are common with imported ObjC protocols that have different naming in Swift. In some cases an @objc name must be applied to ensure it is declared in a way that the protocol can see it.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We solve this problem with subclassing by requiring “override”. If the override keyword is present but the superclass doesn’t have a matching method, the compiler warns us about it. Similarly if the superclass implements the same method and the subclass doesn’t include override, we get a warning so that it is clear that you are overriding behavior.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">For protocols, I don’t think a required keyword would be the best approach. It’s a completely valid case that a type could conform to a protocol using existing methods, perhaps even from a different module. Further, a single method could satisfy multiple protocols, and be overriden from a superclass. What I would propose would be something like an optional override(<#protocol name#>). Something like the following:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>override(RouteDestinationViewController) </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">static</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">func</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> viewController(with url: </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">URL</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">, properties: [</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">String</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">:</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">Any</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">]) -> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #703daa" class="">UIViewController</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">? {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #bb2ca2" class="">return</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #4f8187" class="">FooController</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">(properties: properties)</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>}</span></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">A method should be able to include multiple overrides (including a bare override to indicate that it is overriding a class method).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thoughts? Are you seeing similar issues?</div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class="">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; border-spacing: 0px;"><div class=""><b style="font-size: 18px;" class="">David Beck</b></div><div style="font-weight: normal;" class=""><a href="http://davidbeck.co" class="">http://davidbeck.co</a></div><div style="font-weight: normal;" class=""><a href="http://twitter.com/davbeck" class="">http://twitter.com/davbeck</a></div><div style="font-weight: normal;" class=""><a href="http://facebook.com/davbeck" class="">http://facebook.com/davbeck</a></div></span></div>
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