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Swift has some really clunky "features" such as dual-identifier parameters and escaped opening parens as identifiers for string templates. WTF! As if function/m

by cutler 6y ago

Swift has some really clunky "features" such as dual-identifier parameters and escaped opening parens as identifiers for string templates. WTF! As if function/method declarations weren't complex enough in a statically-typed language which supports generics.

pansa2 6y ago
> escaped opening parens as identifiers for string templates Do you mean the use of “\(variable)” for string interpolation? What’s wrong with that?
- cutler 6y ago
  It's just downright clunky. What's wrong with ${variable} as in Kotlin and Javascript?
  - mantap 6y ago
    They had good reasons, it means there's only two substrings that need escaping: the backslash and end string sequence. In hindsight, it's ugly and hard to read. A case of optimising for the wrong thing.
  - Someone 6y ago
    I think that’s more a question of taste/what one is used to. I find that dollar sign a bit heavy, visually, but one could also argue that’s a plus. Using backslash has the advantage that there’s only one ‘special’ character in strings, but of course, also has the problem can escape any character with a backsplash, except for opening parentheses.
santraginean 6y ago
They’re not dual identifiers; one is an argument label and the other is the parameter name. Maybe it’s because I come from an ObjC background, but this is one of my favorite aspects of the syntax; IMO it makes code way easier to read without having to look up method definitions to figure out what each argument does.
- dmitriid 6y ago
  From State of the Platform this year: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ebb51t6XkAIF4YD?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ebb51t6XkAIF4YD?format=jpg&name=... Which for is for and would work as for for?
  - cutler 6y ago
    Madness.
    - factotvm 6y ago
      As a disclaimer, I’ve written Swift, but this seems to be a simple concept. The first name is the interface and is used at the call site, and the second (optional) name is used within the scope of the function, should the developer want a more descriptive name.

by cutler 6y ago

pansa2 6y ago

> escaped opening parens as identifiers for string templates Do you mean the use of “\(variable)” for string interpolation? What’s wrong with that?

cutler 6y ago
It's just downright clunky. What's wrong with ${variable} as in Kotlin and Javascript?
- mantap 6y ago
  They had good reasons, it means there's only two substrings that need escaping: the backslash and end string sequence. In hindsight, it's ugly and hard to read. A case of optimising for the wrong thing.
- Someone 6y ago
  I think that’s more a question of taste/what one is used to. I find that dollar sign a bit heavy, visually, but one could also argue that’s a plus. Using backslash has the advantage that there’s only one ‘special’ character in strings, but of course, also has the problem can escape any character with a backsplash, except for opening parentheses.

santraginean 6y ago

They’re not dual identifiers; one is an argument label and the other is the parameter name. Maybe it’s because I come from an ObjC background, but this is one of my favorite aspects of the syntax; IMO it makes code way easier to read without having to look up method definitions to figure out what each argument does.

dmitriid 6y ago
From State of the Platform this year: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ebb51t6XkAIF4YD?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ebb51t6XkAIF4YD?format=jpg&name=... Which for is for and would work as for for?
- cutler 6y ago
  Madness.
  - factotvm 6y ago
    As a disclaimer, I’ve written Swift, but this seems to be a simple concept. The first name is the interface and is used at the call site, and the second (optional) name is used within the scope of the function, should the developer want a more descriptive name.