New Collections interface - Sized

[Remi Forax]

----- Mail original -----
> De: "Stephen Colebourne" <scolebourne at joda.org>
> À: "core-libs-dev" <core-libs-dev at openjdk.java.net>
> Envoyé: Vendredi 23 Avril 2021 11:23:03
> Objet: New Collections interface - Sized

> Hi all,
> While a discussion on ReversibleCollection is going on, I'd like to
> raise the interface I've always found most missing from the framework
> - Sized
> 
> public interface Sized {
>   int size();
>   default boolean isEmpty() {
>     return size() == 0;
>   }
>   default boolean isNotEmpty() {
>     return !isEmpty();
>   }
> }
> 
> This would be applied to Collection and Map, providing a missing
> unification. Anything else that has a size could also be retrofitted,
> such as String. Ideally arrays too, but that could come later. Note
> that Iterable would not implement it.
> 
> WDYT?

There are 3 ways to have instances of different classes to have a common behavior in Java,
- either thy implement a common super-type
- or you use a structural type conversion (a method ref on an instance)
  here:
    Sized sized = list::size;
- or you use pattern matching (or a cascade of if/else if you are like the old fashion)
    int size(Object o) {
      return switch(o) {
        case List<?> list -> list.size();
        case Object[] array -> array.length();
        case String s -> s.length();
        default -> throw ...
      };
    }

The advantage of pattern matching is that it does not have a global impact, out of where you want to use it,
by example, here, you can use s.length() instead of s.codepoints().count() without having to think what the default size of a String means for all program that can be written. 

> 
> Stephen

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