Context bound in scala

context_bound.scala

// Consider the method tabulate which forms an array from the results of applying a given function f on a range of numbers from 0 until a given length. 
// Up to Scala 2.7, tabulate could be written as follows:

def tabulate[T](len: Int, f: Int => T) = {
    val xs = new Array[T](len)
    for (i <- 0 until len) xs(i) = f(i)
    xs
}

// In Scala 2.8 this is no longer possible, because runtime information is necessary to create the right representation of Array[T]. 
// One needs to provide this information by passing a ClassManifest[T] into the method as an implicit parameter:

def tabulate[T](len: Int, f: Int => T)(implicit m: ClassManifest[T]) = {
    val xs = new Array[T](len)
    for (i <- 0 until len) xs(i) = f(i)
    xs
}

// As a shorthand form, a context bound can be used on the type parameter T instead, giving:

def tabulate[T: ClassManifest](len: Int, f: Int => T) = {
    val xs = new Array[T](len)
    for (i <- 0 until len) xs(i) = f(i)
    xs
}