How to write it idiomatically in Scala? - scala

Suppose I have a function to check a string:
case class MyError(msg: String)
val oops = MyError("oops")
def validate(s: String):Either[MyError, Unit] =
if (s == "a") Right(()) else Left(oops)
Now I would like to reuse it and write a new function to check the head of a list of strings and return either an error or the list tail.
// should be validateHeadOfList but I don't want to change the name now
def validateList(xs: List[String]): Either[MyError, List[String]] =
xs match {
case head::tail =>
validate(head).fold(err => Left(err), _ => Right(tail))
case _ => Left(oops)
}
This function works but doesn't look elegant. How would you improve it ?

Your implementation looks rather idiomatic to me, but if you're looking for a possibly more concise alternative - I think this does exactly the same, and is (arguably) more concise:
def validateList(xs: List[String]): Either[MyError, List[String]] =
xs.headOption.map(validate).map(_.right.map(_ => xs.tail)).getOrElse(Left(oops))

Assuming you actually want to return either a single error or the original list, then the following will work. I can't comment on whether this is idiomatic Scala though.
case class MyError(msg: String)
val oops = MyError("oops")
def validate(s: String): Either[MyError, Unit] =
if (s == "a") ().asRight else oops.asLeft
final def validateList(list: List[String]): Either[MyError, List[String]] = {
#scala.annotation.tailrec
def loop(xs: List[String]): Either[MyError, List[String]] = {
xs match {
case head :: tail =>
validate(head) match {
case Left(error) => error.asLeft
case _ => loop(tail)
}
case _ => list.asRight
}
}
loop(list)
}
For example:
scala> validateList(List("a", "a", "a"))
res0: Either[MyError,List[String]] = Right(List(a, a, a))
scala> validateList(List("a", "b", "a"))
res1: Either[MyError,List[String]] = Left(MyError(oops))

Related

How to refactor a function that throws exceptions?

Suppose I am refactoring a function like this:
def check(ox: Option[Int]): Unit = ox match {
case None => throw new Exception("X is missing")
case Some(x) if x < 0 => throw new Exception("X is negative")
case _ => ()
}
I'd like to get rid of the exceptions but I need to keep the check signature and behavior as is, so I'm factoring out a pure implementation -- doCheck:
import scala.util.{Try, Success, Failure}
def doCheck(ox: Option[Int]): Try[Unit] = ???
def check(ox: Option[Int]): Unit = doCheck(ox).get
Now I am implementing doCheck as follows:
def doCheck(ox: Option[Int]): Try[Unit] = for {
x <- ox toTry MissingX()
_ <- (x > 0) toTry NegativeX(x)
} yield ()
Using the following implicits:
implicit class OptionTry[T](o: Option[T]) {
def toTry(e: Exception): Try[T] = o match {
case Some(t) => Success(t)
case None => Failure(e)
}
}
implicit class BoolTry(bool: Boolean) {
def toTry(e: Exception): Try[Unit] = if (bool) Success(Unit) else Failure(e)
}
The implicits certainly add more code. I hope to replace OptionTry with an implicit from scalaz/cats someday and maybe find an analog for BoolTry.
You could refactor with a loan pattern and Try.
def withChecked[T](i: Option[Int])(f: Int => T): Try[T] = i match {
case None => Failure(new java.util.NoSuchElementException())
case Some(p) if p >= 0 => Success(p).map(f)
case _ => Failure(
new IllegalArgumentException(s"negative integer: $i"))
}
Then it can be used as following.
val res1: Try[String] = withChecked(None)(_.toString)
// res1 == Failure(NoSuchElement)
val res2: Try[Int] = withChecked(Some(-1))(identity)
// res2 == Failure(IllegalArgumentException)
def foo(id: Int): MyType = ???
val res3: Try[MyType] = withChecked(Some(2)) { id => foo(id) }
// res3 == Success(MyType)

pattern matching on function parameters in scala

Is it possible to pattern match on function heads in scala?
For example, can I write something along the lines of:
def myFunction(a:: b:: xs): Int = ???
def myFunction(a:: xs): Int = ???
def myFunction(List.empty): Int = ???
You can use partial functions for this case. Example:
val myFunctionCase1: PartialFunction[List[Int], Int] = {
case a :: b :: xs => ???
}
val myFunctionCase2: PartialFunction[List[Int], Int] = {
case a :: xs => ???
}
val myFunctionCase3: PartialFunction[List[Int], Int] = {
case Nil => ???
}
// compose functions
val myFunction: List[Int] => Int =
myFunctionCase1 orElse myFunctionCase2 orElse myFunctionCase3
Usage examples:
myFunctionCase1(List(1,2,3)) // invoke
myFunctionCase1(List(1)) // throw MatchError
myFunctionCase2(List(1)) // invoke
...
myFunction(List(1,2,3))
myFunction(List(1))
myFunction(Nil)
...

Using Monad Transformer from Option -> Either

Given the following method,
scala> def f(x: Option[String]): Either[String, Int] = x match {
case Some(x) => try { Right(x.toInt) }
catch {
case _: NumberFormatException => Left(s"Not an int: $x")
}
case None => Left("No String present.")
}
f: (x: Option[String])Either[String,Int]
testing
scala> f(None)
res0: Either[String,Int] = Left(No String present.)
scala> f(Some("44"))
res2: Either[String,Int] = Right(44)
scala> f(Some("zipp"))
res3: Either[String,Int] = Left(Not an int: zipp)
How would a Monad transformer be used here?
Note - I don't know if it's a good example since it's so short (and the pattern match might be the cleanest way), but I'm curious anyway.

Change list of Eithers to two value lists in scala

How can I change list of Eithers into two list of value Right and Left. When I use partition it returns two lists of Either's not values. What is the simplest way to do it?
foldLeft allows you to easily write your own method:
def separateEithers[T, U](list: List[Either[T, U]]) = {
val (ls, rs) = list.foldLeft(List[T](), List[U]()) {
case ((ls, rs), Left(x)) => (x :: ls, rs)
case ((ls, rs), Right(x)) => (ls, x :: rs)
}
(ls.reverse, rs.reverse)
}
You'll have to map the two resulting lists after partitioning.
val origin: List[Either[A, B]] = ???
val (lefts, rights) = origin.partition(_.isInstanceOf[Left[_]])
val leftValues = lefts.map(_.asInstanceOf[Left[A]].a)
val rightValues = rights.map(_.asInstanceOf[Right[B]].b)
If you are not happy with the casts and isInstanceOf's, you can also do it in two passes:
val leftValues = origin collect {
case Left(a) => a
}
val rightValues = origin collect {
case Right(b) => b
}
And if you are not happy with the two passes, you'll have to do it "by hand":
def myPartition[A, B](origin: List[Either[A, B]]): (List[A], List[B]) = {
val leftBuilder = List.newBuilder[A]
val rightBuilder = List.newBuilder[B]
origin foreach {
case Left(a) => leftBuilder += a
case Right(b) => rightBuilder += b
}
(leftBuilder.result(), rightBuilder.result())
}
Finally, if you don't like mutable state, you can do so:
def myPartition[A, B](origin: List[Either[A, B]]): (List[A], List[B]) = {
#tailrec
def loop(xs: List[Either[A, B]], accLeft: List[A],
accRight: List[B]): (List[A], List[B]) = {
xs match {
case Nil => (accLeft.reverse, accRight.reverse)
case Left(a) :: xr => loop(xr, a :: accLeft, accRight)
case Right(b) :: xr => loop(xr, accLeft, b :: accRight)
}
}
loop(origin, Nil, Nil)
}
If making two passes through the list is okay for you, you can use collect:
type E = Either[String, Int]
val xs: List[E] = List(Left("foo"), Right(1), Left("bar"), Right(2))
val rights = xs.collect { case Right(x) => x}
// rights: List[Int] = List(1, 2)
val lefts = xs.collect { case Left(x) => x}
// lefts: List[String] = List(foo, bar)
Using for comprehensions, like this,
for ( Left(v) <- xs ) yield v
and
for ( Right(v) <- xs ) yield v

How to create a list with the same element n-times?

How to create a list with the same element n-times ?
Manually implementnation:
scala> def times(n: Int, s: String) =
| (for(i <- 1 to n) yield s).toList
times: (n: Int, s: String)List[String]
scala> times(3, "foo")
res4: List[String] = List(foo, foo, foo)
Is there also a built-in way to do the same ?
See scala.collection.generic.SeqFactory.fill(n:Int)(elem: =>A) that collection data structures, like Seq, Stream, Iterator and so on, extend:
scala> List.fill(3)("foo")
res1: List[String] = List(foo, foo, foo)
WARNING It's not available in Scala 2.7.
(1 to n).map( _ => "foo" )
Works like a charm.
Using tabulate like this,
List.tabulate(3)(_ => "foo")
I have another answer which emulates flatMap I think (found out that this solution returns Unit when applying duplicateN)
implicit class ListGeneric[A](l: List[A]) {
def nDuplicate(x: Int): List[A] = {
def duplicateN(x: Int, tail: List[A]): List[A] = {
l match {
case Nil => Nil
case n :: xs => concatN(x, n) ::: duplicateN(x, xs)
}
def concatN(times: Int, elem: A): List[A] = List.fill(times)(elem)
}
duplicateN(x, l)
}
}
def times(n: Int, ls: List[String]) = ls.flatMap{ List.fill(n)(_) }
but this is rather for a predetermined List and you want to duplicate n times each element