• Q. Schroll (25/25) Jun 19 2017 Trying to implement some random function I encountered this:
• =?UTF-8?Q?Ali_=c3=87ehreli?= (4/8) Jun 19 2017 aa.get(key, defaultValue)
• Q. Schroll (4/13) Jun 19 2017 aa.get returns the defaultValue if the key is not in the AA, but
• Moritz Maxeiner (9/14) Jun 19 2017 AFAIK the builtin associate array implementation exposes neither

Q. Schroll <qs.il.paperinik gmail.com> writes:

Trying to implement some random function I encountered this:

     uint randFunc(uint x)
     {
         static uint[uint] vals;
         if (auto r = x in vals) return *r;
         return vals[x] = uniform!uint();
     }

I have to lookup x twice and it seems that there is no way around 
it. Can't I tell the AA to set a value for a given key if it 
doesn't already have one
  (1) with only one lookup, and
  (2) in a safe way?
For the semantics, that should behave like this:

     V set(K, V)(ref const(V)[const(K)] aa, auto ref const(K) key, 
lazy const(V) value)
     {
         if (auto valPtr = key in aa) return *valPtr;
         // cast away const as initialization is okay:
         return (cast() aa[key]) = value();
     }

The function is dual to AA's get.

It would make it possible for an AA with const value type to have 
values added which is perfectly fine for arrays. All I have seen 
so far, one cannot safely add values to them as initialization 
and assignment cannot be distinguished.

=?UTF-8?Q?Ali_=c3=87ehreli?= <acehreli yahoo.com> writes:

On 06/19/2017 08:19 AM, Q. Schroll wrote:

 Can't I tell the AA to set a value for a given key if it doesn't already
 have one
  (1) with only one lookup, and
  (2) in a safe way?

aa.get(key, defaultValue)

   https://dlang.org/spec/hash-map.html#properties

Ali

Q. Schroll <qs.il.paperinik gmail.com> writes:

On Monday, 19 June 2017 at 16:54:46 UTC, Ali Çehreli wrote:
 On 06/19/2017 08:19 AM, Q. Schroll wrote:

 Can't I tell the AA to set a value for a given key if it 
 doesn't already
 have one
  (1) with only one lookup, and
  (2) in a safe way?

 aa.get(key, defaultValue)

   https://dlang.org/spec/hash-map.html#properties

 Ali

aa.get returns the defaultValue if the key is not in the AA, but 
does not add the key-value pair (x, defaultValue) to the AA. I'd 
find it rather surprising if it did.

Moritz Maxeiner <moritz ucworks.org> writes:

On Monday, 19 June 2017 at 15:19:19 UTC, Q. Schroll wrote:
 I have to lookup x twice and it seems that there is no way 
 around it. Can't I tell the AA to set a value for a given key 
 if it doesn't already have one
  (1) with only one lookup, and
  (2) in a safe way?

AFAIK the builtin associate array implementation exposes neither 
such a function, nor other functions which you can use to 
assemble this, so no, you cannot do this with only one lookup 
(currently).
Though I can't see why it couldn't be added, seems fairly 
straight forward.
The best you can do with the builtin associative arrays right now 
is make sure that the `toHash` of your key type is cached.