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@viktorklang
Created June 30, 2011 23:12
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DIY Scala Enums (with optional exhaustiveness checking)
trait Enum { //DIY enum type
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference //Concurrency paranoia
type EnumVal <: Value //This is a type that needs to be found in the implementing class
private val _values = new AtomicReference(Vector[EnumVal]()) //Stores our enum values
//Adds an EnumVal to our storage, uses CCAS to make sure it's thread safe, returns the ordinal
private final def addEnumVal(newVal: EnumVal): Int = { import _values.{get, compareAndSet => CAS}
val oldVec = get
val newVec = oldVec :+ newVal
if((get eq oldVec) && CAS(oldVec, newVec)) newVec.indexWhere(_ eq newVal) else addEnumVal(newVal)
}
def values: Vector[EnumVal] = _values.get //Here you can get all the enums that exist for this type
//This is the trait that we need to extend our EnumVal type with, it does the book-keeping for us
protected trait Value { self: EnumVal => //Enforce that no one mixes in Value in a non-EnumVal type
final val ordinal = addEnumVal(this) //Adds the EnumVal and returns the ordinal
def name: String //All enum values should have a name
override def toString = name //And that name is used for the toString operation
override def equals(other: Any) = this eq other.asInstanceOf[AnyRef]
override def hashCode = 31 * (this.getClass.## + name.## + ordinal)
}
}
//And here's how to use it, if you want compiler exhaustiveness checking
object Foos extends Enum {
sealed trait EnumVal extends Value /*{ you can define your own methods etc here }*/
val F = new EnumVal { val name = "F" }
val X = new EnumVal { val name = "X" }
}
/**
scala> Foos.values.find(_.name == "F")
res3: Option[Foos.EnumVal] = Some(F)
scala> Foos.X.ordinal
res4: Int = 1
scala> def doSmth(foo: Foos.EnumVal) = foo match {
case Foos.X => println("pigdog")
}
<console>:10: warning: match is not exhaustive!
missing combination $anon$1
missing combination $anon$2
scala> def doSmth(foo: Foos.EnumVal) = foo match {
case Foos.X => println("pigdog")
case Foos.F => println("dogpig")
}
doSmth: (foo: Foos.EnumVal)Unit
**/
//But if you don't care about getting exhaustiveness warnings, you can do:
object Foos extends Enum {
case class EnumVal private[Foos](name: String) extends Value /* { you can define your own methods and stuff here } */
val F = EnumVal("F")
val X = EnumVal("X")
}
/**
Which is a bit less boilerplatey.
Cheers,
**/
@sweepy84
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A noob question. I would like to extend an Enum

e.g.

object Foos extends Enum {
    case class EnumVal private[Foos](name: Int) extends Value 

    val A = EnumVal(1)
    val B = EnumVal(2)
}

object AnotherFoos extends Foos{
    val C = EnumVa(3)
}

so I could call AnotherFoos(1).

@giabao
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giabao commented Jul 30, 2014

@sweepy84 - we can NOT extends an object

@chaotic3quilibrium
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I have copied this verbatim in Scala IDE 3.0.4 with Scala 2.11.2. And I am getting an exhaustive check warning for the code snippet Victor Klang shows as part of his REPL session; i.e. this one:
def doSmth(foo: Foos.EnumVal) = foo match {
case Foos.F => println("dogpig")
case Foos.X => println("pigdog")
}
Has something changed in Scala between the time Victor wrote this (mid 2011) and today (mid 2014)?

@chaotic3quilibrium
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Summary:
I can’t get Viktor’s code to do pattern matcher exhaustiveness checking. I figured out how to do it using case objects while also eliminating the class/object initialization ordering issues (which cause the ordinals to not consistently be assigned to the same case object instances). Here’s the tinyurl (longer one below): http://goo.gl/zlCs61

Details:
I have so longed for Java’s Enum in Scala (without having to created Scala/Java mixed project and resorting to using Java’s Enum). As I began a large project several months ago, I decided to try and get the Scala enumeration problem solved again. I was very hopeful someone had created a DIY solution...which worked. When I saw Viktor’s come up in my Google search, I was pretty excited, but...

I have tried extensively to get Viktor's code above to work. I have not found a way to get it to provide pattern matching exhaustiveness checking. And I have tried LOTS of variations.

So, I decided to to move to using case objects (as opposed to a series of val-s) which I knew worked with the pattern matcher’s exhaustiveness checker. I got right to the edge of something that worked exactly like I wanted...when I exposed an issue with class/object initialization ordering, which Rex Kerr and I worked through on StackOverflow (a couple of years ago):
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14947179/using-a-custom-enum-in-the-scala-worksheet-i-am-receiving-an-error-java-lang-ex

ARGH!!!!!!!!

So, I have now invested a considerable amount of time wrestling many Scala and JVM demons to hack my way to runtime victory. Here is a link to org.public_domain.scala.utils.Enumeration which provides the closest analog to all of the benefits I got from Java’s Enum:

Final solution:
https://gist.github.com/chaotic3quilibrium/57add1cd762eb90f6b24#file-org-public_domain-scala-utils-enumeration-scala

Example usages:
Simple: https://gist.github.com/chaotic3quilibrium/57add1cd762eb90f6b24#file-org-public_domain-chess-chesspiecessimplest-scala

Enhanced:
https://gist.github.com/chaotic3quilibrium/57add1cd762eb90f6b24#file-org-public_domain-chess-chesspiecesenhanced-scala

I would appreciate any feedback you might have on this.

Thank you.

@GitsMcGee
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@chaotic3quilibrium - Wow. That code is pretty intense! Any thoughts on releasing it as a library?

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