initialising idioms

idioms.swift

import UIKit

// this one doesn’t require a helper function

var label: UILabel = {
    $0.backgroundColor = .blue
    $0.text = "This is a playground"
    $0.textColor = .white
    $0.textAlignment = .center
    return $0
}(UILabel(frame: .init(x: 0, y: 0, width: 100, height: 100)))

// if you rather write the function at the beginning...

func configure<T>(_ object: T, changes: (_ object: T) -> Void) -> T {
    changes(object)
    return object
}

var label2 = configure(UILabel(frame: .init(x: 0, y: 0, width: 100, height: 100))) {
    $0.backgroundColor = .blue
    $0.text = "This is a playground"
    $0.textColor = .white
    $0.textAlignment = .center
}

// another way, because why not

extension Sugar where Self: Any {
    func then(_ block: (inout Self) -> Void) -> Self {
        var copy = self
        block(&copy)
        return copy
    }
}

extension NSObject: Sugar {}

var label: UILabel = UILabel(frame: .init(x: 0, y: 0, width: 100, height: 100).then {
    $0.backgroundColor = .blue
    $0.text = "This is a playground"
    $0.textColor = .white
    $0.textAlignment = .center
} 
                             

👍 , nice thought experiments

The first one messed with my head at first but I got there. Reminds me of JavaScript self executing functions