Comments on AI text.md

Comments on AI Text

Please explain how Swift’s Optional type builds on the work of ML family languages.

Swift's Optional type is a way of representing values that may or may not exist.

Good.

This is similar to how the Maybe type works in languages from the ML family,

Yes!

such as Standard ML and OCaml.

Yes, those are good examples of ML family languages, but in both of those languages the type is called Option; it’s Haskell and Elm that call it Maybe.

The Maybe type is a way of representing values that may be Some value or None, depending on whether the value exists.

Delete or rework this. It adds no information. Yes, Some vs None is the big idea here, but the text doesn’t explain what that distinction means beyond essentially repeating the first sentence above. (Also, Just and Nothing are the names of the two cases for Maybe; it’s Option[al] that uses the words some and none.)

And what improvements did Swift make on this approach?

Swift's optional types offer a number of improvements over improve upon the Maybe type in ML languages.

Avoid needless verbal flourishes.

For example, in Swift, optional types are first-class language features,

Vague. What does “first-class” mean in this context?

which means that they can be used in many of the same ways as other types.

So can option / maybe types in ML languages. This is not a difference.

This allows for a more seamless integration of optional values into the language.

Vague; conveys nothing. Be specific. Give examples.

Additionally, Swift's optional types offer more flexibility and power than the Maybe type in ML languages. In Swift, optional types can be used to represent not just missing values, but also any value that might be "absent" for any reason. This makes optional types a more general-purpose tool for dealing with missing or absent values in your code.

Every part of this is wrong. This paragraph is beyond help.

Overall, Swift's optional types build on the work of ML languages by offering a more powerful and flexible way of representing missing or absent values in your code.

More filler text. Delete.

Missing: The central idea!

• Optionals are an alternative to traditional null / nil.
• Both ML and Swift optional / maybe are variant types (aka algebraic types).
• These languages all use syntax and static analysis to
  • clearly distinguish which values can and cannot be absent, and
  • require code to say how it would handle a missing value in order to retrieve a value that is present.

This is the answer to the question. The AI parrots a bunch of fragments of ideas that dance around it, but doesn’t actually manage to say it. Unclear what its actual point is, it’s just generating filler text by parroting others.

Frustrated with the windbag answer above, I tried to give the AI a hint:

What syntactic sugar does Swift provide for optionals, and what is its purpose?

Swift provides a number of syntactic sugar features for optional types, which are designed to make make working with optionals more convenient and intuitive.

OK…

For example, Swift allows you to use provides the if let and guard let constructs

Yes!

to conveniently unwrap optional values, making it easier to work with optional values without having to constantly check for nil.

No, no, no. This sounds vaguely correct, but is exactly wrong. The whole point of these features is that you do have to check for nil; unlike traditional null, it’s impossible to extract the value without handling the nil case in some way. The way in which if let / guard let make it more convenient is that the prevent you from having to do that nil check with a verbose switch / case statement.

Swift also provides the ?? operator, which allows you to provide provides a default value to use if an optional is nil.

Yes! Good definition.

This can be useful for avoiding nil values and ensuring that your code always has a valid value to work with.

Yes…sort of. Except that the RHS of ?? can be nil too, so ?? does not really “ensure that your code always has a valid value.”

Missing: The numerous other types of syntactic sugar Swift offers for optionals.

Overall, the purpose of these syntactic sugar features is to make it easier and more convenient to work with optional values in your code. They provide a more intuitive and straightforward way of working with optionals, making your code more readable and maintainable.

More filler text. Trim, trim, trim.

AI Text, Just the Good Parts

If we remove all the text from the AI’s response that is either incorrect or unnecessary, what is left?

Swift's Optional type is a way of representing values that may or may not exist. This is similar to how the Maybe type works in languages from the ML family.

Swift provides syntactic sugar for optional types, which makes working with optionals more convenient. For example, the if let and guard let constructs unwrap optional values. The ?? operator provides a default value if an optional is nil.

Compare that to the AI’s full response. Look at how much is gone. We reduced the word count by a factor of 5. And what is left? Not an analysis; just a smattering of basic facts that are one Wikipedia or Google search away.

This is typical of mediocre writing: it may sound erudite at first, but when we strip away the parts that do not provide accurate and useful thoughts, there is very little left — and what remains is merely echoes of better sources. “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Compare this to a well-written answer to the same questions.