The following piece of code are erroneous in Swift.
func foo(closure: (Int, Int) -> Int) -> Int {
return closure(1, 2)
}
print(foo(closure: {$0}))
func foo(closure: (Int, Int) -> Int) -> Int {
return closure(1, 2)
}
print(foo(closure: {return $0}))
The error given by XCode playground is Cannot convert value of type '(Int, Int)' to closure result type 'Int'.
While the following pieces of code are completely fine.
func foo(closure: (Int, Int) -> Int) -> Int {
return closure(1, 2)
}
print(foo(closure: {$0 + $1}))
func foo(closure: (Int, Int) -> Int) -> Int {
return closure(1, 2)
}
print(foo(closure: {$1; return $0}))
func foo(closure: (Int, Int) -> Int) -> Int {
return closure(1, 2)
}
print(foo(closure: {a, b in a}))
It seems that in a situation where arguments to a closure are referred to by shorthand argument names, they must be used exhaustively if the the body of the closure only consists of the return expression. Why?
If you just use $0, the closure arguments are assumed to be a tuple instead of multiple variables $0, $1 etc. So you should be able to work around this by extracting the first value of that tuple:
print(foo(closure: {$0.0}))
Your "why" is like asking "why is an American football field 100 yards long?" It's because those are the rules. An anonymous function body that takes parameters must explicitly acknowledge all parameters. It can do this in any of three ways:
Represent them using $0, $1, ... notation.
Represent them using parameter names in an in line.
Explicitly discard them by using _ in an in line.
So, let's take a much simpler example than yours:
func f(_ ff:(Int)->(Void)) {}
As you can see, the function f takes one parameter, which is a function taking one parameter.
Well then, let's try handing some anonymous functions to f.
This is legal because we name the parameter in an in line:
f {
myParam in
}
And this is legal because we accept the parameter using $0 notation:
f {
$0
}
And this is legal because we explicitly throw away the parameter using _ in the in line:
f {
_ in
}
But this is not legal:
f {
1 // error: contextual type for closure argument list expects 1 argument,
// which cannot be implicitly ignored
}
Related
This code compiles and works fine:
class Numbers {
func operateOn<T>(_ num1: T, _ num2: T, do task: (T, T) -> ()) {
task(num1, num2)
}
}
let n = Numbers()
n.operateOn(1,2) {
print(($0 + $1) * 10)
}
n.operateOn("l","ll") {
print(($0 + $1))
}
Yet for for following code does not compile.
func process<T> (add: String, completion: (T) -> () ) {
completion("k") // ERROR
}
Yet I get the following error:
'String' is not convertible to 'T'
I tried passing an Int, but I just got another error:
'Int' is not convertible to 'T'
Can't an Int or a String satisfy a generic requirement that doesn't have any constraints?!
The problem is that your code needs to work for any T. E.g. if T is Int then completion has type (Int) -> (), it's completely legitimate to call
n.process<Int>("") { $0 + 1 }
and completion("k") would have to do "k" + 1 which doesn't make sense.
This is going to be the same in basically any language with generics (C++ is different because it uses templates for the same purpose instead).
Can't an Int or a String satisfy a generic requirement that
doesn't have any constraints?!
Sure it can. But that's not the reason the compiler is giving you an error.
Think about it, what happens if you constrain a generic function/parameter within the function body itself?! It will no longer be a generic function!
Imagine if you had wrote your operateOn function as such:
class Numbers {
func operateOn<T>(_ num1: T, _ num2: T, do task: (T, T) -> ()) {
task("k", num2) // add two strings
}
}
Would you say that T is generic? Or that it's of type String? If you made it a String then can num2 be any generic type it wants to be? It can't!
If it's of type String then it's no longer generic. Since the compiler can't allow that it will throw that error.
Is there a more elegant way to filter with an additional parameter (or map, reduce).
When I filter with a single parameter, we get a beautiful easy to ready syntax
let numbers = Array(1...10)
func isGreaterThan5(number:Int) -> Bool {
return number > 5
}
numbers.filter(isGreaterThan5)
However, if I need to pass an additional parameter to my function it turns out ugly
func isGreaterThanX(number:Int,x:Int) -> Bool {
return number > x
}
numbers.filter { (number) -> Bool in
isGreaterThanX(number: number, x: 8)
}
I would like to use something like
numbers.filter(isGreaterThanX(number: $0, x: 3))
but this gives a compile error annonymous closure argument not contained in a closure
You could change your function to return a closure which serves
as predicate for the filter method:
func isGreaterThan(_ lowerBound: Int) -> (Int) -> Bool {
return { $0 > lowerBound }
}
let filtered = numbers.filter(isGreaterThan(5))
isGreaterThan is a function taking an Int argument and returning
a closure of type (Int) -> Bool. The returned closure "captures"
the value of the given lower bound.
If you make the function generic then it can be used with
other comparable types as well:
func isGreaterThan<T: Comparable>(_ lowerBound: T) -> (T) -> Bool {
return { $0 > lowerBound }
}
print(["D", "C", "B", "A"].filter(isGreaterThan("B")))
In this particular case however, a literal closure is also easy to read:
let filtered = numbers.filter( { $0 > 5 })
And just for the sake of completeness: Using the fact that
Instance Methods are Curried Functions in Swift, this would work as well:
extension Comparable {
func greaterThanFilter(value: Self) -> Bool {
return value > self
}
}
let filtered = numbers.filter(5.greaterThanFilter)
but the "reversed logic" might be confusing.
Remark: In earlier Swift versions you could use a curried function
syntax:
func isGreaterThan(lowerBound: Int)(value: Int) -> Bool {
return value > lowerBound
}
but this feature has been removed in Swift 3.
I am bit confused on declaring parameter and return type in Swift.
does these parameter and return type have the same meaning? What is the use of those parentheses ()?
func myFunction() -> (()-> Int)
func myFunction() -> (Void-> Int)
func myFunction() -> Void-> Int
First... () and Void are the same thing you have two different ways of writing the same thing.
Second... The -> is right associative. So using parens as you have in your examples are meaningless, much like they are with an expression such as a + (b * c). That expression is identical to a + b * c.
Basically, the three examples in your question all define a function that takes no parameters and returns a closure that takes no parameters and returns an Int.
Some more examples to help:
func myFuncA() -> () -> Int -> String {
return { () -> Int -> String in return { (i: Int) -> String in String(i) } }
}
func myFuncB() -> () -> (Int -> String) {
return { () -> Int -> String in return { (i: Int) -> String in String(i) } }
}
func myFuncC() -> (() -> Int) -> String {
return { (f: () -> Int) in String(f()) }
}
In the above, myFuncA is identical to myFuncB, and they are both different than myFuncC.
myFuncA (and B) takes no parameters, and returns a closure. The closure it returns takes no parameters and returns another closure. This second closure takes an Int and returns a String.
myFuncC takes no parameters and returns a closure. The closure it returns takes a closure as a parameter and returns a String. The second closure takes no parameters and returns an Int.
Hopefully, writing it in Prose hasn't made it even more confusing.
In Swift headers, the isSeparator: argument accepts a closure
public func split(maxSplit: Int = default, allowEmptySlices: Bool = default, #noescape isSeparator: (Self.Generator.Element) throws -> Bool) rethrows -> [Self.SubSequence]
But in the documentation, it lists closure syntax differently
{ (parameters) -> return type in
statements
}
How are you supposed to know that (Self.Generator.Element) throws -> Bool rethrows refers to a closure / requires a closure? Are there other ways that the headers/docs might list argument as meaning a closure?
The "thing" giving away that this is a closure is the ->. The full type is
(Self.Generator.Element) throws -> Bool
It means that the closure takes a variable of type Self.Generator.Element and has to return a Bool upon some calculation based on the input. It may additionally throw some error while doing so - that is what the throws is for.
What you then write
{ (parameters) -> return type in
statements
}
would be an actual implementation, a value of some generic closure type.
The type of a closure is for example (someInt:Int, someDouble:Double) -> String:
var a : ((someInt:Int, someDouble:Double) -> String)
Once again the thing giving away that a is actually a closure is the -> in the type declaration.
Then you assign something to a via some code snippet following your second code block:
a = { (integer, floating) -> String in
return "\(integer) \(floating)"
}
You can tell by the argument's type. Everything in Swift has a type, including functions and closures.
For example, this function...
func add(a: Int, to b: Int) -> Int { return a + b }
...has type (Int, Int) -> Int. (It takes two Ints as parameters, and returns an Int.)
And this closure...
let identity: Int -> Int = { $0 }
...has type Int -> Int.
Every function and closure has a type, and in the type signature there is always a -> that separates the parameters from the return value. So anytime you see a parameter (like isSeparator) that has a -> in it, you know that the parameter expects a closure.
the isSeparator definition means (Self.Generator.Element) throws -> Bool that you will be given an Element and you should return a Bool. When you will call split, you then can do the following :
[1,2,3].split(…, isSeparator : { element -> Bool in
return false
})
This is a pure silly example but that illustrates the second part of your question
the little knowledge , I have about first class function is that it supports passing functions as arguments and we can also return them as the values in another function ... I am very new in Swift programming language can anyone please elaborate it with an example.
A very simple example to demonstrate this behaviour:
func functionA() {
println("Hello by functionA")
}
func executeFunction(function: () -> ()) {
function()
}
executeFunction(functionA)
First-Class functions are functions that can return another functions.
For instance:
func operate( operand: String) -> ((Double, Double) -> Double)?{
func add(a: Double, b: Double) -> Double {
return a + b
}
func min(a: Double, b: Double) -> Double{
return a - b
}
func multi(a: Double, b: Double) -> Double {
return a * b
}
func div (a: Double, b: Double) -> Double{
return a / b
}
switch operand{
case "+":
return add
case "-":
return min
case "*":
return multi
case "/":
return div
default:
return nil
}
}
The function operate returns a function that takes two double as its arguments and returns one double.
The usage of this function is:
var function = operate("+")
print(" 3 + 4 = \(function!(3,4))")
function = operate("-")
print(" 3 - 4 = \(function!(3,4))")
function = operate("*")
print(" 3 * 4 = \(function!(3,4))")
function = operate("/")
print(" 3 / 4 = \(function!(3,4))")
When you don't care about the implementation of a function, using First-Class functions to return these functions become beneficials. Plus, sometimes, you are not responsible to develop (or not authorised ) of the functions like add, min. So someone would develop a First-Class function to you that returns these functions and it is your responsibility to continue ....
A function that returns a function while capturing a value from the lexical environment:
A function of an array of Comparables that returns a function of a test predicate that returns a function of a value that returns a Bool if the value is the extreme of the array under test. (Currying)
Any programming language is said to have first-class-functions, when functions are treated like normal variables. That means a function can be passed as parameter to any other function, can be returned by any function and also can be assigned to any variable.
i.e., (Referring apple's examples)
Passing function as parameter
func hasAnyMatches(list: [Int], condition: (Int) -> Bool) -> Bool {
for item in list {
if condition(item) {
return true
}
}
return false
}
Returning function
func makeIncrementer() -> ((Int) -> Int) {
func addOne(number: Int) -> Int {
return 1 + number
}
return addOne
}
Properties of First class function
A function is an instance of the Object type.
You can store the function in a variable.
You can pass the function as a parameter to
another function.
You can return the function from a function.
You can store them in data structures such as hash tables, lists, …
refer https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/first-class-functions-python/