"Preloading" A Dictionary With Keys in Swift - ios

This is a fairly simple issue, but one I would like to solve, as it MAY help with performance.
I want to find out if Swift has a way to create a Dictionary, specifying ONLY keys, and maybe no values, or a single value that is set in each entry.
In other words, I want to create a Dictionary object, and "preload" its keys. Since this is Swift, the values could be 0 or nil (or whatever is a default empty).
The reason for this, is so that I can avoid two loops, where I go through once, filling a Dictionary with keys and empty values, and a second one, where I then set those values (There's a practical reason for wanting this, which is a bit out of the scope of this question).
Here's sort of what I'm thinking:
func gimme_a_new_dictionary(_ inKeyArray:[Int]) -> [Int:Int] {
var ret:[Int:Int] = [:]
for key in inKeyArray {
ret[key] = 0
}
return ret
}
let test1 = gimme_a_new_dictionary([4,6,1,3,0,1000])
But I'm wondering if there's a quicker way to do the same thing (as in "language construct" way -I could probably figure out a faster way to do this in a function).
UPDATE: The first solution ALMOST works. It works fine in Mac/iOS. However, the Linux version of Swift 3 doesn't seem to have the uniqueKeysWithValues initializer, which is annoying.
func gimme_a_new_dictionary(_ inKeyArray:[Int]) -> [Int:Int] {
return Dictionary<Int,Int>(uniqueKeysWithValues: inKeyArray.map {($0, 0)})
}
let test1 = gimme_a_new_dictionary([4,6,1,3,0,1000])

For Swift 4, you can use the dictionary constructor that takes a sequence and use map to create the sequence of tuples from your array of keys:
let dict = Dictionary(uniqueKeysWithValues: [4,6,1,3,0,1000].map {($0, 0)})

I presume you could optimize your code in terms of allocation by specifying the minimum capacity during the initialization. However, one liner may be the above answer, it's essentially allocation and looping to add 0 in each position.
func gimme_a_new_dictionary(_ inKeyArray:[Int], minCapacity: Int) -> [Int:Int] {
var ret = Dictionray<Int, Int>(minimumCapacity: minCapacity)
for key in inKeyArray {
ret[key] = 0
}
return ret
}
let test1 = gimme_a_new_dictionary([4,6,1,3,0,1000])
Take a look at this official documentation:
/// Use this initializer to avoid intermediate reallocations when you know
/// how many key-value pairs you are adding to a dictionary. The actual
/// capacity of the created dictionary is the smallest power of 2 that
/// is greater than or equal to `minimumCapacity`.
///
/// - Parameter minimumCapacity: The minimum number of key-value pairs to
/// allocate buffer for in the new dictionary.
public init(minimumCapacity: Int)

Related

Appending items to an array in dictionary not working

I have this static dictionary created as so:
static var pictures = Dictionary<Int, Array<UIImage>>()
I want to populate it with images. At the moment when I am creating it I don't know how many key/value pairs I need to create. I have to fetch from the internet the data, but after that I am doing this to populate, but still my dictionary is empty:
for i in 0...Fetching.numberOfAliveListings - 1 {
for _ in 0...AdsCollectionView.listings[i].photos.count - 1 {
AdsCollectionView.pictures[i]?.append(UIImage(named: "noimage")!)
}
}
pictures is initially empty. So any attempt to access a value for a given key will result in a nil value. Since the value (the array) is nil, the optional chaining skips the call to append.
One solution is to provide a default array when looking up the value for a given Int.
AdsCollectionView.pictures[i, default: []].append(UIImage(named: "noimage")!)
You may also wish to consider alternate syntax when declaring pictures:
static var pictures = [Int: [UIImage]]()

How to remove an element of a given custom type value from an array in Swift

I want to remove element of custom type value from an array.
I want to pass a variant instance to function to remove it from array, I don't want to use removeAtIndex().
var favoriteVariants: [Variant]
func removeVariant(variant: Variant)
{
}
If Variant is Equatable and you only want to remove the first one that matches:
if let idx = favoriteVariants.indexOf(variant) {
favoriteVariants.removeAtIndex(idx)
}
If it isn’t Equatable and you have some other matching criteria to find just one to remove:
let idx = favoriteVariants.indexOf {
// match $0 to variant
}
if let idx = idx {
favoriteVariants.removeAtIndex(idx)
}
(these are assuming Swift 2.0 – if 1.2, it’s find(favoriteVariants, variant) instead of indexOf, and there isn’t a version that takes a closure, though it’s not too hard to write one)
If there are multiple ones you want to remove in one go:
favoriteVariants = favoriteVariants.filter {
// criteria to _keep_ any given favorite
}
All of these could be wrapped in extensions if what you want to do is general enough to justify it.

Swift automatically creating temporary dictionaries

I'm working with a datasource for a UITableView where I need an array with dictionaries.
I tried making an array, and filling it with dictionaries in a for loop like this.
temporaryDataDict = [:]
temporaryDataDict = ["name":stockName, "ticker":ticker, "lastPrice":lastPrice, "purchasePrice":purchasePrice, "weight":weight, "daysHeld":daysHeld]
temporaryDataArray.append(temporaryDataDict)
But of course, when I start filling my tableView with the dataSource. I end up for 23 of the exact same dictionaries (the last one in the for loop).
This is of course, because it's changing the dictionary every time.
I havn't been able to find a way to keep the data in the dictionaries, or programatically make a new dictionary every time (since they need a new name otherwise it'll overwrite the data).
So how can I programatically make dictionaries everytime a for loop runs, then get the keys & values of these dictionaries?
or am I going about this completely wrong?
If it helps, here's the kind of data I'm working with.
I have a stock (or item) with 6 properties. So I think it makes the most sense to have an array where every item in the array is the "stock" as a dictionary that contains the 6 properties.
So is it possible to make swift automatically create these dictionaries for me? Since I don't know the amount of dictionaries needed.
PS.
I know this is what CoreData is for. I'm using these arrays and Dictionaries to later fill in my CoreData.
If the above isn't possible I am aware that I can probably create a new CoreData entity to accomplish what I want, but it doesn't seem like the best way to go about it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
I don't believe that a dictionary is the best sort of data structure to use in this case. Since typically a dictionary is composed of a unique key and a value.
I have edited this answer. Originally I suggested creating a class containing a property for each record field. Then I figured that this could be done using a tuple via a typealias for each record. Using a typealias gets around an issue related to creating arrays of tuples.
ETA: However please read the comments because Zaph who knows more about this than me reckons that using a Class is a stronger solution.
This is my tuple based solution. Most of what follows is just about quickly creating some dummy data:
typealias StockRecord = (stockName:String, ticker: String, lastPrice: Double, purchasePrice: Double, weight: Double, daysHeld: Int)
var temporaryDataArray = [StockRecord]()
// use a loop to create dummy records and add each to the array
// rough and ready - just to test the solution
var loopCounter: Int
for loopCounter = 0; loopCounter <= 23; loopCounter++ {
//some dummy field values for each record
var stockName = "stockName" + ("\(loopCounter)")
var ticker = "ticker" + ("\(loopCounter)")
var lastPrice = Double(loopCounter)
var purchasePrice = Double(loopCounter)
var weight = Double(loopCounter)
var daysHeld = loopCounter
var newRecord = (stockName, ticker, lastPrice, purchasePrice, weight, daysHeld)
temporaryDataArray.append(newRecord)
}
ETA: Iterate over the array - eg:
for recordEntry in temporaryDataArray {
var a = recordEntry.stockName
var b = recordEntry.ticker
// etc
}
Or with enumeration - eg:
for (count,recordEntry) in enumerate(temporaryDataArray) {
println("\(count) \(recordEntry)")
}
Output:
0 (stockName0, ticker0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0)
1 (stockName1, ticker1, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1)
2 (stockName2, ticker2, 2.0, 2.0, 2.0, 2)
3 (stockName3, ticker3, 3.0, 3.0, 3.0, 3)
etc

run function depending on passed integer in swift

I want to run different functions depending on selected level Integer
so if selected level is 1 then runfunc1(), if 2 then runfunc2()...
I know this is possible using if else
if levelselected == 1 {
runfunc1()
} else if levelseletecd == 2 {
runfunc2()
// ... and so on
}
Is there any better way than this, perhaps something like this
runfunc%i(),levelselected // I know its not correct but something similar
I dont want to write new code for every level, so any better way?
You can use something like:
var levelSelected = 0 //
var selector = Selector("runFunc\(levelSelected)")
if self.respondsToSelector(selector) {
NSThread.detachNewThreadSelector(selector, toTarget: self, withObject: nil)
}
You could have an array or dictionary of functions. A dictionary might be nicer since the logic for checking if the level is valid is a lot simpler:
let funcs = [1: runfunc1, 2: runfunc2]
if let funcToRun = funcs[levelselected] {
funcToRun()
}
However, you won't be able to easily dynamically build a function name from strings and numbers without using #objc functionality.
(except in the sense that you could make the key to the dictionary a string of the function name, but you still have to build the dictionary using actual function names determined at compile time)
That said, you can add to the funcs variable from elsewhere in the code so it does mean to can "hook up" new levels without changing this dispatching logic.
Not the exact solution you are looking for but this can make it easier :
Declare an array of the desired functions:
var levelFunctions: [()->()] = [runfunc1, runfunc2, runfunc3]
This syntax declares an array of functions that have zero argument and return nothing. You initialize this array with the required function names and then execute the desired function using the levelselected variable:
levelFunctions[levelselected]() // Or levelselected-1 if the variable is not zero-based
EDIT:
As Airspeed Velocity mentioned in the comment and his answer you should make sure the level is in the array bounds.
I prefer to create a function, for example runFuncFromLevel::Int -> (() -> Void). runFuncFromLevel return a proper function that you need.
func runFuncFromLevel(level: Int) -> () -> Void
{
switch level
{
case 1: return runfunc1
case 2: return runfunc2
default: return {}
}
}

Swift: Slice startIndex always 0

I ran afoul of Swift Slice, thinking that firstIndex should be the first index of the slice, in the domain of the source (not sure what else it's useful for). Evidently this is not the case:
let ary = map(1...100) { i in i }
let s:Slice<Int> = ary[10..<20]
s.startIndex // 0
ary[10..<20].startIndex // 0
(10..<20).startIndex // 10 (half-open interval generated from a range, presumably)
Does this seem like a bug? If it's always 0, it seems totally useless.
NOTE: The following applies to Swift 2 or earlier. The behavior has changed since Swift 2.
If you dig around in the auto-generated Swift header file (where it seems most of the documentation is at the moment), you'll find this describing Slice:
/// The `Array`-like type that represents a sub-sequence of any
/// `Array`, `ContiguousArray`, or other `Slice`.
Since Slice is Array-like, it does make sense that startIndex would be returning 0 since an Array's startIndex is always going to be 0. Further down, where it defines startIndex, you'll also see:
/// Always zero, which is the index of the first element when non-empty.
var startIndex: Int { get }
If you're looking for the first entry in the Slice, just use: s.first:
/// The first element, or `nil` if the array is empty
var first: T? { get }
If you need to find the index in the original Array that where the Slice starts, you can do something like this:
if let startValue = s.first {
let index = find(ary, startValue)
/* ... do something with index ... */
}
This is fixed in Swift 2. If you slice an array with a range of 2...5, the startIndex of the slice will be 2. Very cool.

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