CODEWITHSUNDEEP
elixir
BlueGene
BlueGene

Reputation: 1139

Elixir Struct definition

Structs are extensions built on top of maps. However, I was expecting the struct definition to be like,

defmodule User do
  defstruct %{name: "John", age: 27}
end

However, I was surprised find that the fields need to be defined as Keyword Lists. 

defmodule User do
  defstruct [name: "John", age: 27]
end

I find this odd, is there a reason for this notation?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 193

Answers (1)

Hauleth
Hauleth

Reputation: 23586

Because it allows you to use 2 different notations:

defstruct [:name, :age]

if there is no default value or:

defstruct [name: "John", age: 27]

if there are default values. You can even mix these two:

defstruct [:name, age: 27]

Additional if you use keyword list you can omit [] which is sometimes handy.

Upvotes: 3

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