> Calling "flatMap" a map + filtering out the nil values was a TERRIBLE idea.
maybe I’m the one who’s getting this all wrong, but afaik the purpose of
flatMap isn’t filtering out nil at all, but just a combination of map & flatten…
Optional<T> is like Array<T> with a maximal capacity of one (so it can either
contain a single object, or it’s empty), and in this interpretation, there’s
nothing wrong with the behavior.
Instead, I think Nobuo Saito is right, and that a renaming to filteredMap is
only fighting symptoms, and not the cause (but I’m not that sure if there’s a
good way to tackle the cause).
Besides that, all those alternative names also have potential for confusion:
Imho it isn’t intuitive what is filtered out — and don’t forget that the result
of flatMap can contain nil elements…
If the biggest problem of flatMap is that people who don’t understand it write
code that isn’t optimal (but still does the right thing!), I don’t think there
is any change needed. I’m not even sure that that wrapping/unwrapping is
actually done, because it should be discoverable by the compiler.
It would be nice if there was an way to warn in places where flatMap could be
replaced with map, though (but imho this special warning shouldn’t be checked
by the compiler).
- Tino
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