<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=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Jun 16, 2017, at 11:21 AM, Tino Heth via swift-evolution <<a href="mailto:swift-evolution@swift.org" class="">swift-evolution@swift.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">The described problem might be one of the most famous itches of the language, but imho the bar for new keywords* should be higher than that — and there are alternatives:<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">First, I guess many would like to see this to be valid Swift:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo; color: rgb(186, 45, 162);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">protocol</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class=""> Foo {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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: #ba2da2" class="">func</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> bar() {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo; color: rgb(209, 47, 27);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>print(</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">"Default implementation called"</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class="">)</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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 style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}</span></div></div><div class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class="">It's the most convenient way of avoiding typos: avoid to type ;-)</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div><div>Absolutely. This is the more natural way to describe most default implementations; it’s more concise and eliminates the possibility of errors for the common case.</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Imho this might already be enough, but for a full alternative for "default", I'd suggest something like this:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo; color: rgb(186, 45, 162);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">extension</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures; color: #4f8187" class="">Foo</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class=""> {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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: #ba2da2" class="">func</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> Foo.bar() {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo; color: rgb(209, 47, 27);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>print(</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">"String has its own implementation"</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class="">)</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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 style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div><div>On top of your first syntax, this would be useful when the extension is further constrained, e.g.,</div><div><br class=""></div><div>extension Foo where Self: Comparable {</div><div> func Foo.bar() {</div><div> print(“I use Comparable for my Foo”)</div><div> }</div><div>}</div><div><br class=""></div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">(to make it more familiar for those with a C++ background, "Foo::bar" could be used instead ;-)</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div><div>Joking aside, “Foo::bar” has one advantage if it’s applied universally: it’s unambiguous if we allow it in method references. For example, we could say</div><div><br class=""></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>someString.Foo::bar()</div><div><br class=""></div><div>to mean “call the function that String used to satisfy the requirement Foo.bar()”. If instead it were</div><div><br class=""></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>someString.Foo.Foo.bar()</div><div><br class=""></div><div>it looks like we’re referring to a member named “Foo” within String, and a “bar” inside that. One would end up having to write the example differently, e.g.,</div><div><br class=""></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>(someString as Foo).bar()</div><div><br class=""></div><div>C# has set some precedent for using “.” when declaring the function, though, and there are obvious advantages to not introducing a new sigil like “::” into Swift because it brings complexity and the potential for confusion with “.”.</div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Additional benefit: This wouldn't be limited to protocols — and it could possibly help in weird situations when two protocols declare functions with identical signature...</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo; color: rgb(186, 45, 162);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">extension</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: #4f8187" class="">Foo</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class=""> {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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: #ba2da2" class="">func</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class=""> Foo.bar() {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo; color: rgb(209, 47, 27);" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>print(</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">"String has its own implementation"</span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;" class="">)</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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 style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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: 11px; 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>func Foo.barr() {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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>// compiler error, Foo defines no function "barr"</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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 style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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: 11px; 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>func barr() {</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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>// this is fine, no connection to a protocol</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; 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 style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Menlo;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures" class="">}</span></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div><div>Absolutely.</div><div><br class=""></div><div>Thanks for writing this up, Tino; I was going to send a very similar response :)</div><div><br class=""></div></div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Doug<div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>