[Swift-devel] Re: Adding associative array operators for Swift [GSoC]

[Yadu Nand]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the detailed reply.

>From what I understand an associative array implementation for swift would
need Add key-value bindings and lookups based on keys. Modifying and removing
the value associated with a key doesn't fit with the functional style and hence
wouldn't be needed ?

This project certainly looks very interesting and hopefully I'll get
to understand
a sizeable portion of the codebase and contribute something meaningful to
swift over this summer. I'm filing an application right away !

On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 1:04 AM, Michael Wilde <wilde at mcs.anl.gov> wrote:
> Hi Yadu,
>
> To do the associative array project, you need to learn how Swift is compiled and Karajan, how it adds new Swift-specific runtime functions to Karajan (specifically the Swift-array access primitives) and how to extend those primitives to allow strings (minimally) and other data types (possibly) to be used as array indices.
>
> You'll also need to modify the Swift grammar and parser (ANTLR) to accept non-integer array indices; and the Swift type checking system to extend the language's type conformation semantics.
>
> Lastly you'll need to make sure the enhanced Swift still passes all its old language and runtime tests, and add new tests for the new syntax and semantics.
>
> And I agree with you: it is certainly *possible* that an associative array construct, because of its key-value nature, would enable new models of map-reduce-like scripting patters to be implemented using Swift (but that remains to be developed and could probably be done in a variety of ways).
>
> So this would be a nice first-phase project that could then lead to either the map-reduce project or further exploration of other language feature (e.g.: support for array slices was also recently requested...)
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>> Hi,
>>
>> I see that "Adding associative array operators to Swift" has been
>> added
>> to the ideas page [1] (recently). I am interested in working on this
>> project,
>> and believe that this will allow further work on implementing
>> map-reduce
>> on Swift (as Mike Wilde had mentioned in a previous mail).
>>
>> I have gone through most of the documentation on Swift and believe I
>> have a fair understanding of the system. I have been doing research
>> for the idea on adding functional iteration constructs to swift and I
>> believe
>> I have learnt a lot about swift from it.
>>
>> Any ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> [1] http://dev.globus.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code_2011_Ideas
>>
>> --
>> Thanks and Regards,
>> Yadu Nand B
>
> --
> Michael Wilde
> Computation Institute, University of Chicago
> Mathematics and Computer Science Division
> Argonne National Laboratory
>
>

Thanks and Regards,
Yadu