Beginning Scala study note(8) Scala Type System

1. Unified Type System
Scala has a unified type system, enclosed by the type Any at the top of the hierarchy and the type Nothing at the bottom of the hierarchy. All Scala types inherit from Any.

 

# Using Any, Book extends AnyRef, and x is an Int that extends AnyVal
scala> import scala.collection.mutable.ListBuffer
import scala.collection.mutable.ListBuffer
scala> val list = ListBuffer[Any]()
list: scala.collection.mutable.ListBuffer[Any] = ListBuffer()
scala> val x = 2
x: Int = 2
scala> list += x
res11: list.type = ListBuffer(2)
scala> class Book
defined class Book
scala> list += new Book
res12: list.type = ListBuffer(2, Book@4894a95e)

# limit a method to only be able to work on Value Types
scala> def test(int: AnyVal) = ()
test: (int: AnyVal)Unit
scala> test(5)
scala> test(5.12)
scala> test(new Object)
<console>:10: error: type mismatch;
found : java.lang.Object
required: AnyVal
test(new Object)
^

2. Type Parameterization
　　Classes and traits that take type parameters are called generic; the types they generate are called parameterized type.

# Scala List of Strings
scala> val list: List[String] = List("A","B")

　　 Note that the Set[T] is a trait, but not a type because it takes a type parameter.

# Scala requires to specify type parameters
scala> def test(s: Set){}
<console>:8: error: type Set takes type parameters
def test(s: Set){}
^
# specifying parameter types
scala> def test(s: Set[AnyRef]){}
test: (s: Set[AnyRef])Unit

 　　In Scala, List, Set and so on also be referred as a type constructors, because they are used to create specific types. You could construct a type by specifying a type parameter.

　　　　(1) Variance
　　　　A declaration like class Set[+A] means that Set is parameterized by a type A. The + is called a variance annotation【型变注释】.
　　　　Variance comes in three flavors: invariant【不变】, covariant【协变】, and contravariant【逆变】. Variance in Scala is defined by using + and - signs in front of type parameters.
　　　　　　1) Covariant Parameter Types
　　　　　　Covariant parameter types are designated with a + before the type parameter. A covariant type is useful for read-only containers.

 　　　　　　If S extends T then Class[S] extends Class[T].

# immutable class Getable
scala> class Getable[+T](val data: T)
defined class Getable
# define a method that takes a Getalbe
scala> def get(in: Getable[Any]){println("It's "+in.data)}
get: (in: Getable[Any])Unit
# instance of Getable
scala> val gs = new Getable("String")
gs: Getable[java.lang.String] = Getable@6a6877c1
scala> get(gs)
It's String

#passing Double
scala> def getNum(in: Getable[Number]) = in.data.intValue
getNum: (in: Getable[java.lang.Number])Int
scala> def gd = new Getable(new java.lang.Double(3.3))
gd: Getable[java.lang.Double]
scala> getNum(gd)
res17: Int = 3

 　　　　　　We can make read-only classes covariant.

　　　　2) Contravariant Parameter Types
　　　　　　Contravariance indicates if S extends T, then class[T] extends Class[S].

# Putable Class
scala> class Putable[-T]{def put(in: T){println("Putting "+in)}}
defined class Putable
# method takes a Putable[String]
scala> def writeOnly(in: Putable[String]){in.put("Hello")}
writeOnly: (in: Putable[String])Unit
# declare an instance of Putable[AnyRef]
scala> val p = new Putable[AnyRef]
p: Putable[AnyRef] = Putable@3a5a8982
scala> writeOnly(p)
Putting Hello

　　　　　　The inputs to a transformation are contravariant. Calling something that expects at least AnyRef with a String is legal and valid. But the return value can be covariant because we expect to get back a Number, so if we get an Integer, a subclass of Number, we're okay.

# define DS with a contravariant In type and a covariant Out type.
scala> trait DS[-In, +Out]{def apply(i: In): Out}
defined trait DS
# create an instance that will convert Any into an Int
scala> val t1 = new DS[Any, Int]{def apply(i: Any) = i.toString.toInt}
t1: java.lang.Object with DS[Any,Int] = $anon$1@4f7620f1
scala> def check(in: DS[String, Any]) = in("333")
check: (in: DS[String,Any])Any
scala> check(t1)
res19: Any = 333

 　　　　3) Invariant Parameter Types

　　　　　　In Scala, Array[T] is invariant. This means that you can only pass an Array[String] to foo(a: Array[String]).

# define an invariant class
scala> class Holder[T](var data: T)
defined class Holder
scala> def add(in: Holder[Int]){in.data = in.data + 1}
add: (in: Holder[Int])Unit
scala> val h = new Holder(0)
h: Holder[Int] = Holder@3d85fdbe
scala> add(h)
scala> h.data
res21: Int = 1

 　　　　Because the add method expects an Int to come out of Holder and puts an Int back into the Holder, the type of the Holder must be invariant.

　　　　　Let's put a Double into a Holder[Number]:

scala> val nh = new Holder[Number](33.3d)
nh: Holder[java.lang.Number] = Holder@4e3540c7
scala> def round(in: Holder[Number]){in.data = in.data.intValue}
round: (in: Holder[java.lang.Number])Unit
scala> round(nh)
scala> nh.data
res4: java.lang.Number = 33

 　　　　We put a Number and got back a Number.

# the underlying class
scala> nh.data.getClass
res5: java.lang.Class[_ <: java.lang.Number] = class java.lang.Integer

# try to pass a Holder[Double] into round
scala> val dh = new Holder(33.3d)
dh: Holder[Double] = Holder@5a3a5cc5

scala> round(dh)
<console>:11: error: type mismatch;
found : Holder[Double]
required: Holder[java.lang.Number]
round(dh)
^

 　　　　4) Rules of Variance

　　　　Mutable containers should be invariant. Immutable containers should be covariant. Inputs to transformations should be contravariant, and outputs from transformations should be covariant.
　　(2) Type Bounds
　　　　1) Upper Type Bounds
　　　　An Upper bound type is restricted to a specific type or one of its derived types. Scala provides the upper bound relation operator (<:). The <: operator signifies that the type to the left of the <: operator must be a subtype or be the same type of the type to the right of the <: operator.

#define an Employee class hierarchy
scala> class Employee(val name: String)
defined class Employee
scala> class Internal(name: String) extends Employee(name)
defined class Internal
scala> class FreeLancer(name: String) extends Employee(name)
defined class FreeLancer
scala> class Customer(name: String)
defined class Customer

# define a function that takes a parameter with an upper bound
scala> def employeeName[A <: Employee](emp: A){println(emp.name)}
employeeName: [A <: Employee](emp: A)Unit

scala> employeeName(new Internal("Paul"))
Paul
scala> employeeName(new FreeLancer("John"))
John
# the Customer class is not a subtype of Employee.
scala> employeeName(new Customer("Peter"))
<console>:11: error: inferred type arguments [Customer] do not conform to method employeeName's type parameter bounds [A <: Employee]
employeeName(new Customer("Peter"))
^

 　　2) Lower Type Bounds
　　A lower bound type is restricted to a specific type or its supertype. The type selected must be equal to or a supertype of the lower bound restriction.

scala> class A{
| type B >: List[Int]
| def something(a: B) = a
| }
defined class A
# instantiate the subtype
scala> val st = new A{ type B = Traversable[Int]}
st: A{type B = Traversable[Int]} = $anon$1@57a3687
scala> st.someMethod(Set(1,2))
res0: st.B = Set(1, 2)

 　　Even if Set is not a supertype of the List class, it's a subtype of Traversable.
3. Implicit Class
　　The String class seems to have grown methods:

scala> "Hello".toList
res0: List[Char] = List(H, e, l, l, o)

　　If you have an instance of a particular type, and you need another type, and there's an implicit conversion in scope, Scala will call the implicit method to perform the conversion.

# create a method that calculates the number of days based on a Long containing a millisecond count
scala> def millisToDays(in: Long): Int = (in / (1000L*3600L*24)).toInt
millisToDays: (in: Long)Int
scala> millisToDays(5949440999L)
res1: Int = 68
# try to pass a Date into the method
scala> millisToDays(new Date)
<console>:14: error: type mismatch;
found : java.util.Date
 required: Long
millisToDays(new Date)
                 ^
# define a method that will automatically be called when we need the conversion
scala> implicit def dateToLong(d: Date) = d.getTime
dateToLong: (d: java.util.Date)Long
scala> millisToDays(new Date)
res5: Int = 17048    

　　You should be very careful with implicit conversions, and their use should be an explicit design choice. However, we see that sometimes implicit conversions(Int -> Long) are very valuable.

# a method that takes a parameter that must be a Long
scala> def m2[T <: Long](in: T):Int = (in / (1000L * 3600L * 24L)).toInt
m2: [T <: Long](in: T)Int
scala> m2(33)
<console>:15: error: inferred type arguments [Int] do not conform to method m2's type parameter bounds [T <: Long]
 m2(33)
    ^
scala> m2(33L)
res7: Int = 0  

 　　What is the scope of implicits? Scala compiler considers an implicit in the current scope if:
　　1) The implicit is defined in the current class or in a superclass.
　　2) The implicit is defined in a trait or supertrait, or is mixed into the current class or superclass
　　3) The implicit is defined on the companion object of the current target class.
　　4) The implicit is available on an object that has been imported into the current scope.
　　When designing libraries, be careful about defining implicits, and make sure they are in as narrow a scope as is reasonable. When consuming libraries, make sure the implicits defined in the objects are narrow enough and are not going to cause problems such a getting stuff from every Option.
　　An implicit class is a class marked with the implicit keyword. The keyword makes the class's primary constructor available for implicit conversions when the class is in scope.