I've often wanted to use the F# option type in C#. So I wrote the Maybe class which works like it.
Maybe<T> is a discriminated union type with two possible value constructors: Some and None.
The presence of a value of type T is signified by lifting it into a Maybe<T> using the Some constructor.
Conversely, the absence of a value is signified by the use of the None constructor.
The discriminated union is implemented using an abstract class with a private, closed set of heirs.
Since the set of heirs is both private and closed, there is no way of directly deciding what the type of a given instance of Maybe<T> is.
This necessitates a matching mechanism which invokes a handler based on the type of the instance.
Note that this means that there is no type comparison, nor is there any if-then-else checking.
- Creating a
Maybeto signify the absence of any value
var none = Maybe<int>.None;
// none : Maybe<int> [None]- Creating a
Maybeto signify the presence of a value of typestring
var key = Maybe<string>.Some("The key to the kingdom");
// key : Maybe<string> [Some("The key to the kingdom")]- Given an instance of
Maybe<int>, add 1 to the value if it is present and return the incremented value, or 0 if no value is present
// arg : Maybe<int> [??]
var result = arg.Match(v => v + 1, () => 0);
// result : Maybe<int> [(n + 1) -or- 0]- Given an instance of
Maybe<string>, print the value if it is present or the string "Missing"
// arg : Maybe<string> [??]
arg.Iter(Console.WriteLine, () => Console.WriteLine("Missing"));Instances of the Maybe class exhibit value semantics. This means that two instances of Some with the same value will report equality when compared, even if their references are not. This is done by implementing the IEquatable<Maybe<T>> and IStructuralEquatable interfaces, and providing custom == and != operators.
The following examples all print True:
Console.WriteLine($"None == None : {Maybe<int>.None == Maybe<int>.None}");
Console.WriteLine($"Some 5 == Some 5 : {Maybe<int>.Some(5) == Maybe<int>.Some(5)}");
Console.WriteLine($"Some 6 != Some 5 : {Maybe<int>.Some(6) != Maybe<int>.Some(5)}");
Console.WriteLine($"Some 2 != None : {Maybe<int>.Some(2) != Maybe<int>.None}");
Console.WriteLine($"None != Some 2 : {Maybe<int>.None != Maybe<int>.Some(2)}");The Maybe class can implement a map function, essentially making it a Functor.
- Given an instance of
Maybe<int>, increment any present value and return it
// arg : Maybe<int> [??]
var result = arg.Map(v => v + 1);
// result : Maybe<int> [Some (n + 1) -or- None]The Maybe class can be structurally folded and its value liberated.
- Given an instance of
Maybe<string>, extract any present string value, otherwise return the empty string.
// arg : Maybe<string> [??]
var result = arg.GetOrElse(x => x, String.Empty);
// result : string [value -or- String.Empty]- Given an instance of
Maybe<int>, extract the string representation of any value present, otherwise an empty string.
// arg : Maybe<int> [??]
var result = arg.GetOrElse(x => x.ToString(), String.Empty);
// result : string [value -or- String.Empty]Fold with traditional arguments provided for sake of completeness.
The Maybe class can be treated as a monad, and computations on the value can be composed safely using the Return and Bind methods
- Given an integer, lift it into an instance of
Maybe<int>
var result = Maybe<int>.Return(42);
// result : Maybe<int> [Some(42)]- Given an instance of
Maybe<int>, and a function which takes aninttoMaybe<bool>, chain them together so that function is only invoked when an integer value is present
var result = Maybe<42>.Bind(v => Maybe<bool>.Some(v % 2 == 0));
// result : Maybe<bool> [Some(true)]C# provides a mechanism for obtaining LINQ Syntactic Sugar for monadic composition.
- Given two instances of
Maybe<int>, return their sum
var result = from a in Maybe<int>.Some(4)
from b in Maybe<int>.Some(6)
select a + b;
// result : Maybe<int> [Some(10)]- EDIT: Feb 7 2020 - Incorporated
Combinefrom @ericrey85. Thank you! - EDIT: Feb 7 2020 - Added
GetOrDefaultas suggested to @rulrok.
Awesome job, have you considered making something similar to Either<L, R> (Haskell) or Result<T, E> (Rust)? It's a huge pain doing some things without some form of Maybe/Option and Result/Either in C#. I am making my own version of Option and your work here has really done a lot to help show me how to work with C#. I'm working on a Result<T, E> as well, but basically just following your work and add just enough functionality to get back to work on my project before spending some free time on it.
Just wanted to say your approach is super clean and short. I'm not the greatest so it's been awesome to see your implementation!