The issue is that in English, 'guard' has an inverted logical connotation to
how it is used in Swift. For example, take this sentence:
"In some functions it's a good idea is to put some checks in place, in order to
guard against invalid input values."
That’s a good point, but I think it depends on the way you read it. I’m a
non-native English speakers and the way a read the guard is different. Using a
simple example:
guard x > 0 else {
return
}
I don’t read “Guard that x is higher than 0 else … ”, but instead I read it
like “Guard! x must be higher than 0 else …”.
If you read it like the first sentence I agree that it sounds strange and that
another word, like ensure, sounds better.
If you read it like that second sentence the word guard makes more sense.
Probably adding a colon could make it more clear to the reader:
guard: x > 0 else {
return
}
But then we risk to add complexity to the syntax.
Marco
On 25 October 2016 at 18:38:50, Jay Abbott via swift-evolution
([email protected]) wrote:
I mentioned this in passing on a different thread. Although it caused some
slight confusion when I first learned the 'guard' keyword, it was easy to
overcome and I didn't think the issue was strong enough to warrant a change.
However, after reading the other discussion on that thread (around the
possibility of a 'matches' keyword and how code is "read out" or "internally
verbalised"), and seeing how passionate everyone here is about Swift, I'm
thinking that maybe it should be changed.
The issue is that in English, 'guard' has an inverted logical connotation to
how it is used in Swift. For example, take this sentence:
"In some functions it's a good idea is to put some checks in place, in order to
guard against invalid input values."
Swift's 'guard' keyword is to guard against invalid values.
Or to put it another way, to ensure that we have valid values.
However, the way it reads in Swift, we guard that we have valid values.
I fully understand and agree that it's better to state the true condition for
valid values here, using else to perform a contingency. And I understand why
the word 'guard' was picked (given the above example sentence). I just think
that 'ensure' would be better.
ensure x > 0 else {
return
}
ensure camp.isSafe else {
runForTheHills()
}
ensure let thingy = object as? Thingy else {
return ExamineThingyResult.NotAThingy
}
As I said, I thought it was too small a niggle to worry about, but seeing how
people on here care so much about making Swift better, and the willingness to
change things, I thought I'd suggest it. Although it would be a breaking
change, the code changes are easy.
So what do people think? In particular it would be interesting to hear from
non-native English speakers on this, did 'guard' confuse you or did 'guard'
cause your understanding of the English word to be confused?
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