lue-bird/elm-typesafe-array/19.0.0

elm-typesafe-array

Knowing more about the length of an Array at compile-time to help you access elements safely

ticTacToeBoard
    |> ArraySized.element ( Up, n2 )
    |> ArraySized.element ( Up, n0 )

returns a value, not a Maybe if ticTacToeBoard's type can promise that it contains enough elements. A type that can hold that promise could be:

type alias TicTacToeBoard =
    -- 3 by 3
    ArraySized (Exactly N3) (ArraySized (Exactly N3) Field)

type Field
    = Empty
    | X
    | O

ticTacToeBoard : TicTacToeBoard
ticTacToeBoard =
    ArraySized.l3
        (ArraySized.l3 Empty Empty O)
        (ArraySized.l3 Empty O Empty)
        (ArraySized.l3 O Empty Empty)

ticTacToeBoard
    |> ArraySized.element ( Up, n2 )
    |> ArraySized.element ( Up, n0 )
--→ O

We & the compiler knew there are enough elements in ticTacToeBoard

Setup

elm install lue-bird/elm-linear-direction
elm install lue-bird/elm-bounded-nat
elm install lue-bird/elm-typesafe-array

👀 if you want

• bounded-nat: n..., N..., Add..., Min, In, Exactly
• extra: linear-direction: Up & Down

import Linear exposing (DirectionLinear(..))
import N exposing (N, Exactly, Min)
import ArraySized exposing (ArraySized, In)

Let's define & use operations for ArraySizeds with a certain amount of elements ↓

a minimum length?

last :
    ArraySized (In (Add1 minMinus1_) max_) element
    -> element
last =
    ArraySized.element ( Down, n0 )

greatest :
    ArraySized (In (Add1 minMinus1_) max_) comparable
    -> comparable
greatest =
    ArraySized.fold Up max

first ArraySized.empty -- compile-time error
greatest ArraySized.empty -- compile-time error

ArraySized (In (Add1 orMore_) max_) means what exactly? → It constrains the length of possible ArraySizeds.

The types are explained in more detail in bounded-nat (In, Min, Exactly). In this example:

length is In a range

• the minimum length constraint is >= 1 → Add1 minMinus1_
• any maximum length constraint (even NoMax) → max_

an exact length?

Like in the tic-tac-toe example

import Linear exposing (DirectionLinear(..))
import N exposing (n1, n4, n6, n8, N8, Exactly)
import ArraySized exposing (ArraySized)

type alias ChessBoard =
    -- 8 by 8
    ArraySized (Exactly N8) (ArraySized (Exactly N8) Field)

type Field
    = Empty
    | Piece PieceKind Color

type PieceKind
    = Pawn
    | Other --...

type Color
    = Black
    | White

initialChessBoard : ChessBoard
initialChessBoard =
    let
        pawnRow color =
            ArraySized.repeat n8 (Piece Pawn color)
        firstRow color =
            ArraySized.repeat n8 (Piece Other color)
    in
    ArraySized.empty
        |> ArraySized.push (firstRow White)
        |> ArraySized.push (pawnRow White)
        |> ArraySized.glue Up
            n4
            (ArraySized.repeat n4 (ArraySized.repeat n8 Empty))
        |> ArraySized.push (pawnRow Black)
        |> ArraySized.push (firstRow Black)

initialChessBoard
    |> ArraySized.element ( Up, n1 )
    |> ArraySized.element ( Up, n6 )
--> Piece Pawn White

a maximum length?

-- the max tag count should be 53
tag : ArraySized (In min_ N53) String -> (a -> Tagged a)
tag tags toTag =
    ...

tag (ArraySized.l3 "fun" "easy" "simple") -- valid
tag (ArraySized.repeat n100 "into-the-trends") -- type error

ready? go!

• module ArraySized documents everything to start
• some example apps using ArraySized
• elm-bits: bits stored in ArraySized

comparison to Orasund's static-array

Development of typesafe-array started before static-array was published but the ideas are quite similar.

create

static-array

eleven =
    StaticArray.Length.ten |> StaticArray.Length.plus1

StaticArray.fromList eleven 0 [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

makes it easy to forget the length if you add a new element or remove one:

StaticArray.fromList eleven 0 [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 ]

The added element 11 is simply ignored!

typesafe-array

ArraySized.l11 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

ArraySized.l11 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 -- type error

append

static-array:

staticArray1, staticArray2 : StaticArray Six ...

let
    array1 =
        staticArray1 |> StaticArray.toRecord
    
    array2 =
        staticArray2 |> StaticArray.toRecord
in
StaticArray.fromRecord
    { length = StaticArray.Length.twelve
    , head = array1.head
    , tail = Array.append (array1.tail |> Array.push array2.head) array2.tail
    }

important note from static-array:

Notice that we can NOT do addition in compile time, therefore we need to construct 6+6 manually.

→ You could easily do

wrong =
    StaticArray.fromRecord
        { length = StaticArray.Length.eight
        , head = array1.head
        , tail = Array.empty
        }

→ length in the type doesn't match the actual length

wrong
    |> StaticArray.get
        (StaticArray.Index.last StaticArray.Length.eight)

It silently gave us back an element at the wrong (first) index!

typesafe-array:

arr1, arr2 : ArraySized (In N6 (Add6 a_)) ...

arr1 |> ArraySized.glue Up n6 arr2
--: ArraySized (In N12 (Add12 a_)) ...

type-safe.

length in a range

static-array

maybePush :
    Maybe element
    -> StaticArray length element
    -> ? -- what result type?

type MaybePushResult lengthBefore element
    = Pushed
        (StaticArray    
            (StaticArray.Index.OnePlus lengthBefore)
            element
        )
    | DidntPush (StaticArray lengthBefore element)

maybePush :
    Maybe element
    -> StaticArray length element
    -> MaybePushResult length element

really inconvenient.

typesafe-array:

pushMaybe :
    Maybe element
    -> ArraySized (In min max) element
    -> ArraySized (In min (Add1 max)) element