Extend array types using where clause in Swift

If you want to extend only array with specific type. You should extend _ArrayType protocol.

extension _ArrayType where Generator.Element == Int {

   func doSomething() {
       ... 
   }
}

If you extend Array you can only make sure your element is conformed some protocol else. i.e:

extension Array where Element: Equatable {

   func doSomething() {
       ... 
   }
}

Updated: With Swift 3.1 https://github.com/apple/swift/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md

extension Array where Element == Int {

   func doSomething() {
       ... 
   }
}

Swift 3 to the rescue!!

extension Collection where Iterator.Element == Int {
    // `Collection` can be `Sequence`, etc
}

How about

extension CollectionType where Generator.Element == Double {

}

Or If you want a little bit more:

protocol ArithmeticType {
    func +(lhs: Self, rhs: Self) -> Self
    func -(lhs: Self, rhs: Self) -> Self
    func *(lhs: Self, rhs: Self) -> Self
    func /(lhs: Self, rhs: Self) -> Self
}

extension Double : ArithmeticType {}
extension Float : ArithmeticType {}

extension SequenceType where Generator.Element : protocol<FloatLiteralConvertible, ArithmeticType> {
    var sum : Generator.Element {
        return reduce(0.0, combine: +)
    }

    var product : Generator.Element {
        return reduce(1.0, combine: *)
    }
}


stride(from: 1.0, through: 10.0, by: 1.0).sum   // 55
[1.5, 2.0, 3.5, 4.0, 5.5].product               // 231

Works with Double and Float or any other type that you conform to the protocols ArithmeticType and FloatLiteralConvertible. If you need to access specific indices of your array, change SequenceType to CollectionType as you cannot do this with a sequence.

If you only want to extend a specific Array you have to use a protocol for each type:

protocol DoubleValue {
    var value: Double { get }
}
extension Double: DoubleValue {
    var value: Double { return self }
}
extension Array where Element: DoubleValue {
    // use the value property
}

// the same for Float
protocol FloatValue {
    var value: Float { get }
}

extension Float: FloatValue {
    var value: Float { return self }
}
extension Array where Element: FloatValue {
    // use the value property
}

So I didn't read the question properly. FloatingPointType is an existing protocol that is implemented by Double, Float and CGFloat, so

Yes. I did it only yesterday to add a function to SequenceType where the elements had to be Equatable. This is a modification to restrict the elements to Float

You need to use a where clause. This is my function below.

public extension SequenceType where Self.Generator.Element: FloatingPointType
{
    public func splitAt(separator: Generator.Element) -> [[Generator.Element]]
    {
        var ret: [[Generator.Element]] = []
        var thisPart: [Generator.Element] = []

        for element in self
        {
            if element == separator
            {
                ret.append(thisPart)
                thisPart = []
            }
            else
            {
                thisPart.append(element)
            }
        }
        ret.append(thisPart)
        return ret
    }
}

[Float(1), Float(2), Float(3), Float(4)].splitAt(Float(2))
// returns [[1],[3, 4]]
[Double(1), Double(2), Double(3), Double(4)].splitAt(Double(3))
// returns [[1, 2],[4]]

NB I couldn't make this work for an array but SequenceType is more general anyway.

Extend array types using where clause in Swift

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