A general spec question about helper methods and the informative namespace?

My presumption that both these are not part of the normative spec. Implementations may choose to implement the functionality without a helper method and without the specific informative elements. Is this correct?

If so, then reading:

"The iterator protocol makes use of a helper method iterate which first collects the values that will be returned by the iterator methods and then returns an object that provides the correct next method: "

really means that an implementation could use the helper method iterate as the RI does. If not, it must provide equivalent functionality.

Am I reading the meaning of helper and informative correctly?

Michael


Lars Hansen wrote:
I'm enclosing the draft for the Map class.  Please comment.

--lars
  



The class "Map"

The class Map

FILE:                       spec/library/Map.html
DRAFT STATUS:               DRAFT 1 - 2008-02-29
IMPLEMENTATION STATUS:      ES4 RI
TEST CASE STATUS:           Unknown
REVIEWED AGAINST ES3:       N/A
REVIEWED AGAINST ERRATA:    N/A
REVIEWED AGAINST BASE DOC:  N/A
REVIEWED AGAINST PROPOSALS: YES
REVIEWED AGAINST CODE:      YES
  

The class Map is a parameterized, dynamic, non-final, direct subclass of Object that provides a reliable, efficient, mutable, and iterable map from keys to values. Keys and values may be of arbitrary types.

A Map is realized as a hash table. When the Map is constructed the caller may provide specialized functions that compare keys and compute hash values for keys.

Synopsis

The class Map provides the following interface:

__ES4__ dynamic class Map.<K,V>
{
    public function Map(equals:   function = (function(a,b) a === b),
                        hashcode: function = intrinsic::hashcode) …

    static meta function invoke(object: Object): Map.<EnumerableId,*> …
    static public const length = 2;

    intrinsic function size() : uint …
    intrinsic function get(key: K) : V …
    intrinsic function put(key:K, value:V) : void …
    intrinsic function has(key:K) : boolean …
    intrinsic function remove(key:K) : boolean …

    iterator function get(deep: boolean = false) : iterator::IteratorType.<K> …
    iterator function getKeys(deep: boolean = false) : iterator::IteratorType.<K> …
    iterator function getValues(deep: boolean = false) : iterator::IteratorType.<V> …
    iterator function getItems(deep: boolean = false) : iterator::IteratorType.<[K,V]> …

    private const equals   : function = …
    private const hashcode : function = …
    private var population : uint = …
}
  

The Map prototype object provides these direct properties:

    size:   function () …
    get:    function (key) …
    put:    function (key, value) …
    has:    function (key) …
    remove: function (key) …
  

Methods on the Map class object

new Map.<K,V>( equals=…, hashcode=… )

Description

The Map constructor creates a new map for key type K and value type V.

The optional equals argument is a function that compares two keys and returns true if they are equal and false if they are not. This function must implement a reflexive, transitive, and symmetric relation, and equals(k1,k2) must be constant for any two actual keys k1 and k2. The default value for equals is a function that compares the two keys using the === operator.

The optional hashcode argument is a function that takes a key and returns a numeric code for it. This code may be used to find associations more quickly in the map. Two calls to the hashcode function on the same key value must return the same numeric code, and the hashcode function must always return the same numeric code for two objects that compare equal by the equals function. The default value for hashcode is the intrinsic global function hashcode.

NOTE   The constraint that equals and hashcode return constant values does not apply to key values that are not in a Map nor referenced from an activation of any method on Map.

NOTE   There is no requirement that the values returned from hashcode for two unequal keys must be different.

Implementation

The Map constructor initializes the Map object by saving its parameters in private storage and initializing the count of the number of associations in the table to zero.

public function Map(equals   /*: function*/ = (function (x,y) x === y),
                    hashcode /*: function*/ = intrinsic::hashcode)
    : equals = equals
    , hashcode = hashcode
    , population = 0
{
}
  

FIXME   (Ticket #153) The parameters to the Map constructor should be constrained to be function, but not any more than that (because that would be bad UI for scripts). Currently the RI does not support function as a type annotation, so the current implementation of the constructor is unconstrained.

Map( object )

Description

When the Map class object is called as a function, it creates a new Map object from EnumerableId to *, populating the new Map object with the own properties of object.

Returns

The Map class object called as a function returns a new Map object.

Implementation

static meta function invoke(object: Object): Map.<EnumerableId,*> {
    let d = new Map.<EnumerableId,*>;
    for (let n in object)
        if (object.intrinsic::hasOwnProperty(n))
            d.put(n, object[n]);
    return d;
}
  

FIXME   (Tickets #247, #289, and e-mail discussion.) This method may change if we change the meaning of statics in parameterized classes: the map would be to the type V instead of to *.

Methods on Map instances

size ( )

Returns

The intrinsic method size returns the number of associations in the map.

Implementation

intrinsic function size() : uint
    population;
  

get ( key )

Returns

The intrinsic method get returns the value associated with key, or null if there is no such association.

Implementation

intrinsic function get(key: K) : V {
    let probe = informative::find(key);
    return probe ? probe.value : null;
}
  

The informative function find searches for key in the Map and returns an object containing at least the properties key and value if the association was found, or otherwise null. (The returned object is part of the Map data structure, and writing to it updates the association in the Map.)

informative function find(key: K): like { key: K, value: V } …
  

put ( key, value )

Description

The intrinsic method put creates an association between key and value, or overwrites an existing association if there is one.

Returns

The put method returns nothing.

Implementation

intrinsic function put(key:K, value:V) : void {
    let probe = informative::find(key);
    if (probe)
        probe.value = value;
    else {
        ++population;
        informative::insert(key, value);
    }
}
  

The informative function insert adds a new association between key and value to the Map.

informative function insert(key: K, value: V): void …
  

has ( key )

Returns

The intrinsic method has returns true if there exists an association for key, or false otherwise.

Implementation

intrinsic function has(key:K) : boolean {
    let probe = informative::find(key);
    return probe ? true : false;
}
  

remove ( key )

Description

The intrinsic method remove removes any association for key.

Returns

The remove method returns true if there was an association for key, or false otherwise.

Implementation

intrinsic function remove(key:K) : boolean {
    let probe = informative::find(key);
    if (probe) {
        --population;
        informative::eject(probe);
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}
  

The informative function eject removes the association for key from the Map.

informative function eject(box: like { key: K, value: V }): void …
  

Iteration protocol on Map instances

The iterator protocol makes use of a helper method iterate which first collects the values that will be returned by the iterator methods and then returns an object that provides the correct next method:

helper function iterate.<T>(f: function(*,*,*):*) {
    let a = [];
    informative::allElements(function (k,v) { f(a,k,v) });
    return {
        next: let (i=0, limit=a.length)
                function () : T {
                    if (i < limit)
                        return a[i++];
                    throw iterator::StopIteration;
                }
    };
}
  

The informative function allElements calls its function argument on every key/value pair in the Map:

informative function allElements(fn: function): void …
  

The iterator methods getKeys, getValues, and getItems return iterator objects that iterate over keys, values, and key/value pairs, respectively. The iterator method get iterates over keys (like getKeys).

Implementation

iterator function getKeys(deep: boolean = false) : iterator::IteratorType.<K>
    helper::iterate.<K>(function (a,k,v) { a.push(k) });

iterator function getValues(deep: boolean = false) : iterator::IteratorType.<V>
    helper::iterate.<V>(function (a,k,v) { a.push(v) });

iterator function getItems(deep: boolean = false) : iterator::IteratorType.<[K,V]>
    helper::iterate.<[K,V]>(function (a,k,v) { a.push([k,v]) });

iterator function get(deep: boolean = false) : iterator::IteratorType.<K>
    iterator::getKeys(deep);
  

Methods on the Map prototype object

The methods on the Map prototype object are constrained to being called on instances of Map. They all delegate to the corresponding intrinsic method on their this object.

prototype function size(this: Map.<*,*>)
    this.intrinsic::size();

prototype function get(this: Map.<*,*>, key)
    this.intrinsic::get(key);

prototype function put(this: Map.<*,*>, key, value)
    this.intrinsic::put(key, value);

prototype function has(this: Map.<*,*>, key)
    this.intrinsic::has(key);

prototype function remove(this: Map.<*,*>, key)
    this.intrinsic::remove(key);
  

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