CODEWITHSUNDEEP
scalagenericsvariadic-functionsabstract-data-type
raul ferreira
raul ferreira

Reputation: 916

variable length arguments with generic types scala

I have a simple abstract data type, a tree.

sealed trait Tree[A]
case object EmptyTree extends Tree[Nothing]
case class Leaf[A](value: A) extends Tree[A]
case class Node[A](op: A => A, branches: List[Tree[A]]) extends Tree[A]

How can i make the operation that a Node holds to accept a variable length number of arguments of type A?

An exemple:

def printAll(strings: String*) {
  strings.foreach(println)
}

printAll receives a variable number of strings.

In the same way i wanted to make my Tree to hold an operation op of the type A* => A.

A possible way would be to make it receive a List[A], but i wonder if there isn't a more direct way of doing this.

by the way can i also turn branches: List[Tree[A]] into something like branches: Tree[A]*. Does this make sense from a design perspective?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 869

Answers (1)

Mikel San Vicente
Mikel San Vicente

Reputation: 3863

You can use Seq in the signature, then you will be able to pass varargs functions

sealed trait Tree[A]
case object EmptyTree extends Tree[Nothing]
case class Leaf[A](value: A) extends Tree[A]
case class Node[A](op: Seq[A] => A, branches: List[Tree[A]]) extends Tree[A]

object Test {
  Node[String](test[String], List())

  def test[A](elem: A*): A = ???
}

Upvotes: 3

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