CODEWITHSUNDEEP
swiftcollectionstuples
Bryan
Bryan

Reputation: 73

Why isn't a Swift tuple considered a collection type?

In Swift, why isn't a tuple considered a collection type?

Of course this is fussbudget territory, but I find a certain amount of fussing helps me understand, retain, and organize what I'm learning.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1376

Answers (1)

Matthew Seaman
Matthew Seaman

Reputation: 8092

I don't have inside knowledge of the motivations, but I can hopefully present some deeper understanding.

Type Safety

One of the primary goals of Swift is to enforce programming best practices to minimize human mistakes. One of these best practices is to ensure we always use specific types when we know them. In Swift, variables and constants always have explicit types and collections prefer to hold, say Strings, than AnyObjects if you know that it will be storing Strings.

Notably, every collection type in Swift may only hold one type of element. This includes Array, Dictionary, and Set.

Tuples are Compound Types

In Swift, there are two types of types: Named Types and Compound Types. Most types, including collection types, are named. Compound types, on the other hand, contain multiple named types in unique combinations. There are only two Compound Types: Function Types and Tuple Types. Tuple Types are different from collections in that:

  • Multiple Named Types can be bundled together in a Tuple Type without using AnyObject.
  • Each position can be given a textual label.
  • We can always anticipate how many values a tuple will be holding because we declared each position.

For more information, see the Types chapter of The Swift Programming Language.

Tuples Represent Objects

We typically don't think of a collection type as an object in itself. Instead, we think of it as a collection of objects. A tuple's labeled positions and multi-type functionality enable it to function more like an object than any collection. (Almost like a primitive Struct)

For example, you might consider an HTTP error to be a tuple with an error code (Int) and a description (String).

Tuples are often used as primitive approaches to temporary objects, such as returning multiple values from a function. They can be quickly dissected without indexing.

Additionally, each Tuple type has its own explicit type. For example, (Int, Int) is an entirely different type from (Int, Int, Int), which is an entirely different type from (Double, Double, Double).

For more on this, see "Tuples" in the The Basics chapter of The Swift Programming Language.

Tuples are Used in Fundamental Language Syntax

When we think of collection types, we think again of collections. Tuples, however, are used in fundamental places in the language that make Compound Type a more fitting title for them. For example, the Function Type is a Compound Tye that is used anytime you specify a function or closure. It is simply a tuple of parameters and a tuple of return values. Even Void is just a typealias for (), an empty tuple.

Additionally, tuples are in language syntax to temporarily bind values. For example, in a for-in loop you might use a tuple to iterate over a dictionary:

let dict = [1: "A", 2: "B", 3: "C"]

for (_, letter) in dict {

    doSomething()

}

Here we use a tuple to iterate over only the values of the dictionary and ignore the keys.

We can do the same in Switch statements (excerpt from The Swift Programming Language):

let somePoint = (1, 1)
switch somePoint {
case (0, 0):
    print("(0, 0) is at the origin")
case (_, 0):
    print("(\(somePoint.0), 0) is on the x-axis")
case (0, _):
    print("(0, \(somePoint.1)) is on the y-axis")
case (-2...2, -2...2):
    print("(\(somePoint.0), \(somePoint.1)) is inside the box")
default:
    print("(\(somePoint.0), \(somePoint.1)) is outside of the box")
}
// prints "(1, 1) is inside the box”

Because tuples are used in such fundamental places in language syntax, it wouldn't feel right for them to be bundled together with collection types.

SequenceType & CollectionType

One last thing to note is that a fundamental feature of CollectionType, which inherits much of this from SequenceType, is the ability to provide a safe Generator for iteration. For example, a for-in loop is possible because collections define a way to get the next item. Because tuples do not consist of the same types, and have a guaranteed number of items (after declaration), using them on the right of a for-in loop (instead of a traditional collection) would be less than intuitive.

If using it in a for-in loop, something designed to thrive with collections, seems less-than-intuitive for a tuple, than a tuple may deserve a different category.

For details on CollectionType, check out SwiftDoc.org. Note that a Generator providing iteration is required. Iterating a tuple would not be type safe and impose many unnecessary complexities, but making a tuple a collection is an interesting concept. It just might be too fundamental for that.

Upvotes: 11

Related Questions