From: "tomstuart (Tom Stuart)" <noreply@...>
Date: 2022-12-03T14:26:42+00:00
Subject: [ruby-core:111174] [Ruby master Feature#19000] Data: Add "Copy with changes method" [Follow-on to #16122 Data: simple immutable value object]

Issue #19000 has been updated by tomstuart (Tom Stuart).





RubyBugs (A Nonymous) wrote in #note-29:

> please consider that making no-args an error makes programming around this API dynamically more complicated



I second this request. In the interests of regularity, it should be fine to ask for a `Data` instance `#with` ���no changes���, otherwise the programmer has to anticipate & handle that as an edge case unnecessarily if they intend to generically handle changes which originate from elsewhere rather than supplying keyword arguments inline.



Whether doing so returns `self` or a shallow copy shouldn���t be very important since the instances are immutable, but I agree that returning `self` would be more semantically predictable, slightly more efficient, and a nice way to differentiate it from the behaviour of `#dup`.



----------------------------------------

Feature #19000: Data: Add "Copy with changes method" [Follow-on to #16122 Data: simple immutable value object]

https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/19000#change-100458



* Author: RubyBugs (A Nonymous)

* Status: Open

* Priority: Normal

----------------------------------------

*As requested: extracted a follow-up to #16122 Data: simple immutable value object from [this comment](http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-core/109815)*





# Proposal: Add a "Copy with changes" method to Data



Assume the proposed `Data.define` exists.

Seeing examples from the [[Values gem]](https://github.com/ms-ati/Values):



```ruby

require "values"



# A new class

Point = Value.new(:x, :y)



# An immutable instance

Origin = Point.with(x: 0, y: 0)



# Q: How do we make copies that change 1 or more values?

right        = Origin.with(x: 1.0)

up           = Origin.with(y: 1.0)

up_and_right = right.with(y: up.y)



# In loops

movements = [

  [ :x, +0.5 ],

  [ :x, +0.5 ],

  [ :y, -1.0 ],

  [ :x, +0.5 ],

]



# position = Point(x: 1.5, y: -1.0)

position = movements.inject(Origin) do |p, (field, delta)|

  p.with(field => p.send(field) + delta)

end

```



## Proposed detail: Call this method: `#with`



```ruby

Money = Data.define(:amount, :currency)



account = Money.new(amount: 100, currency: 'USD')



transactions = [+10, -5, +15]



account = transactions.inject(account) { |a, t| a.with(amount: a.amount + t) }

#=> Money(amount: 120, currency: "USD")

```



## Why add this "Copy with changes" method to the Data simple immutable value class?



Called on an instance, it returns a new instance with only the provided parameters changed.



This API affordance is now **widely adopted across many languages** for its usefulness. Why is it so useful? Because copying immutable value object instances, with 1 or more discrete changes to specific fields, is the proper and ubiquitous pattern that takes the place of mutation when working with immutable value objects.



**Other languages**



C# Records: ���immutable record structs ��� Non-destructive mutation��� ��� is called `with { ... }`

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/builtin-types/record#nondestructive-mutation



Scala Case Classes ��� is called `#copy`

https://docs.scala-lang.org/tour/case-classes.html



Java 14+ Records ��� Brian Goetz at Oracle is working on adding a with copy constructor inspired by C# above as we speak, likely to be called `#with`

https://mail.openjdk.org/pipermail/amber-spec-experts/2022-June/003461.html



Rust ���Struct Update Syntax��� via `..` syntax in constructor

https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ch05-01-defining-structs.html#creating-instances-from-other-instances-with-struct-update-syntax



## Alternatives



Without a copy-with-changes method, one must construct entirely new instances using the constructor. This can either be (a) fully spelled out as boilerplate code, or (b) use a symmetrical `#to_h` to feed the keyword-args constructor.



**(a) Boilerplate using constructor**



```ruby

Point = Data.define(:x, :y, :z)

Origin = Point.new(x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.0)



change = { z: -1.5 }



# Have to use full constructor -- does this even work?

point = Point.new(x: Origin.x, y: Origin.y, **change)

```



**(b) Using a separately proposed `#to_h` method and constructor symmetry**



```ruby

Point = Data.define(:x, :y, :z)

Origin = Point.new(x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.0)



change = { z: -1.5 }



# Have to use full constructor -- does this even work?

point = Point.new(**(Origin.to_h.merge(change)))

```



Notice that the above are not ergonomic -- leading so many of our peer language communities to adopt the `#with` method to copy an instance with discrete changes.







-- 

https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/

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