Also, just to be clear, (unfortunately) the enum ship has sailed and I don’t
think we’ll get a rename/split to union, it’s just that the functionality of
associated objects is conceptually closer to what other languages call a union.
I would, however, like the ability to use an enum in the proper way, as a set
of compile-time-constant data accessed in an easier way than having to use the
ugly but currently necessary hack of `switch value { case .x: return 1; case
.y: return 2; … }`.
> On Oct 10, 2016, at 11:52 AM, Kevin Nattinger <sw...@nattinger.net> wrote:
>
>
>> On Oct 10, 2016, at 11:30 AM, Robert Widmann <devteam.cod...@gmail.com
>> <mailto:devteam.cod...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> By imposing that kind of separation you leave an entire class of generic and
>> structural programming patterns off the table. An enumeration is not just
>> an enumeration of constants, it is an enumeration of data, and data takes
>> far more useful forms than just bitfields
>
> I’m not sure where you got “bitfields” from, perhaps I was unclear. I think
> enums should be a set of cases, each case having its distinct and constant
> set of data with the same structure. If one entity needs data of different,
> dynamic structure and value at runtime, that is essentially the definition of
> a union.
>
>> - similarly when it does have that form it fits precisely into the form of
>> an enum with no cases? Why artificially separate the two concepts when
>> they’re clearly one and the same?
>>
>> ~Robert Widmann
>>
>>> On Oct 10, 2016, at 2:24 PM, Kevin Nattinger via swift-evolution
>>> <swift-evolution@swift.org <mailto:swift-evolution@swift.org>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I agree wholeheartedly. An enum case should be a compile-time constant.
>>> IMO, “enums” with associated values should properly be a separate entity,
>>> called “union” as that’s essentially what they are.
>>>
>>>> On Oct 10, 2016, at 10:31 AM, Kenny Leung via swift-evolution
>>>> <swift-evolution@swift.org <mailto:swift-evolution@swift.org>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> This is the way Java enumerations work.
>>>>
>>>> https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/enum.html
>>>> <https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/enum.html>
>>>>
>>>> I think it is a good model, and I think Swift enumerations should also
>>>> work the same way.
>>>>
>>>> An enumeration is a finite set of things. It’s really inconvenient to have
>>>> to limit those things to have only a single attribute.
>>>>
>>>> -Kenny
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>> https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution
>>>
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>>
>
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