generic functions that operates on collections in scala - scala

Question

This seems like a simple question that I was sure have been asked before, but couldn't find what I was looking for.
How can one write a function that takes a collection as an argument (or anything that can be treated as a collection), perform some operations on it, and return a collection of the same type?
e.g:
scala> def foo[Repr <% Traversable[String]](repr: Repr) = repr.map(_.size)
foo: [Repr](repr: Repr)(implicit evidence$1: Repr => Traversable[String])Traversable[Int]
this works ok on some collections:
scala> foo(Vector("Hello","World"))
res0: Traversable[Int] = Vector(5, 5)
but surprising when I tried on other collections (e.g. Option):
scala> foo(Some("HelloWorld"))
res1: Traversable[Int] = List(10)
a small problem is the return type Traversable, which ideally would be the type of whatever was given to the method. the bigger problem is the actual implementation type: an Option became a List.
it gets even worse, when tried on classes (that behaves like collections) but have no implicit in scope for them. e.g: Try:
scala> import scala.util._
import scala.util._
scala> foo(Success("HelloWorld"))
<console>:12: error: No implicit view available from scala.util.Success[String] => Traversable[String].
foo(Success("HelloWorld"))
^
So, is there a way, to write a generic function, that when given a "collection like" argument, can operate on it's elements and return the correct type?
ideally, I would like to use it on anything (even Future, and Try) , but for my specific usage, I can do with just real collections & Option.
EDIT:
to illustrate a possible solution, (which forces me to copy&paste code, and so, is not what i'm looking for) is to simply write both functions without view bounds:
scala> :paste
// Entering paste mode (ctrl-D to finish)
def foo[Repr <: Traversable[String]](repr: Repr) = repr.map(_.size)
def foo(repr: Option[String]) = repr.map(_.size)
// Exiting paste mode, now interpreting.
foo: [Repr <: Traversable[String]](repr: Repr)Traversable[Int] <and> (repr: Option[String])Option[Int]
foo: [Repr <: Traversable[String]](repr: Repr)Traversable[Int] <and> (repr: Option[String])Option[Int]
scala> foo(Vector("bar"))
res2: Traversable[Int] = Vector(3)
scala> foo(Some("bar"))
res3: Option[Int] = Some(3)

Answer 1

The concept of mapping is represented by functors. One way to easily provide functor implementations for common classes is to use the scalaz library:
import scala.language.higherKinds
import scalaz.Functor
import scalaz.Scalaz._
def foo[El <: String, Coll[_]](repr: Coll[El])(implicit ev: Functor[Coll]) =
repr.map(_.size)
Now, this just works for List, Vector and Future:
scala> foo(Vector("Hello","World"))
res1: scala.collection.immutable.Vector[Int] = Vector(5, 5)
scala> foo(List("Hello","World"))
res2: List[Int] = List(5, 5)
scala> import scala.concurrent.Future
scala> import scala.concurrent.ExecutionContext.Implicits.global
scala> foo(Future("HelloWorld")) andThen PartialFunction(println(_))
Success(10)
Using it with Some is a bit of a problem, because only Option has a Functor implementation, not Some:
scala> foo(Some("HelloWorld"))
<console>:12: error: could not find implicit value for parameter ev: scalaz.Functor[Some]
foo(Some("HelloWorld"))
^
So you have to provide Option instead of Some to foo:
scala> foo(Some("HelloWorld"): Option[String])
res3: Option[Int] = Some(10)
scala> foo(Option("HelloWorld"))
res4: Option[Int] = Some(10)
scala> foo("HelloWorld".some) // This is from scalaz
res5: Option[Int] = Some(10)
And scalaz doesn't have any typeclass implementations for Try, so if you want to use Functor with Try, you'll have to provide the implementation yourself:
import scala.util.Try
import scalaz.Functor
implicit object TryIsFunctor extends Functor[Try] {
def map[A, B](fa: Try[A])(f: A => B): Try[B] = fa map f
}
Then foo will work with Try, but similar to Option, the argument should have the type Try, instead of Success or Failure:
scala> foo(Try("HelloWorld"))
res9: scala.util.Try[Int] = Success(10)
Also, I believe, there are no Functor implementations in scalaz for more general collection types, like Iterable or Seq.
Out of the common higher-order functions Functor only supports map. So to use flatMap and filter you have to provide different typeclasses instead of Functor. For example, scalaz.Monad supports map and flatMap, and scalaz.MonadPlus supports map, flatMap and filter.
And if you don't want to use scalaz, you'd probably have to make something very similar yourself with typeclasses, to get a good result type instead of Traversable. For example, using CanBuildFrom from the standard library.

Answer 2

I do think Kolmar is right about the general problem, but Scala does support duck-typing, so you can do this:
def foo[T[V]](duck: {def map[U](value: String=>U): T[_]}) ={
duck.map(_.size)
}
foo(Vector("bar")).toVector //> res0: Vector[_$2] = List(3)
foo(Some("bar")) //> res1: Option[_$2] = Some(3)
(toVector just to force the eval of the iterator that otherwise results)