KVC Collection Operators Done Properly

The aim of this project is to tackle the disadvantages of KVC Collection Operators

The obvious advatange is clarity in consicion.

But I also want the following:

• explicit choice of operator with compile-time errors for invalid use
• explicit typing of the objects expected in the collection
• compile-time errors if I use a key path that doesn't belong to the type of object in the collection
• code-completion on key path

DZLCollectionOperators

All macros intended for public use have the format:

MacroName(collection, typeOfObjectsInCollection, keyPath)

• collection - instance of NSArray *, NSSet *, etc. e.g. self.transactions
• typeOfObjectsInCollection - the type of objects in the collection, e.g. Transaction * - I chose to require the full type including asterisk in order to be explicit
• keyPath - dot-separated selector names, e.g. payee.name

... with the exception of the "Added Convenience" macros for collections of NSNumber *s, see below.

Example

I can create an array of all the names of payees for transactions, as follows:

NSArray *payeeNames = DZLUnionOfObjects(self.transactions, Transaction *, payee.name);

Full List of Macros

Simple Collection Operators

• DZLAverage - equivalent to @avg (but returns double)
• DZLCount - equivalent to @count (but returns double)
• DZLSum - equivalent to @sum (but returns double)
• DZLMinimum - equivalent to @min with added compile-time validation that objects in the collection respond to -compare
• DZLMaximum - equivalent to @max with added compile-time validation that objects in the collection respond to -compare

Simple Collection Operators - Extra Validation

• DZLAverageNumber - same as DZLAverage but checks that the key path leads to an instance of NSNumber *
• DZLSumNumber - same as DZLSum but checks that the key path leads to an instance of NSNumber *
• DZLAverageDouble - same as DZLAverage but checks that the key path leads to a double or compatible scalar type
• DZLSumDouble - same as DZLSum but checks that the key path leads to a double or compatible scalar type

Added Convenience (see below)

• DZLAverageOfNumbers - only takes one parameter -- a collection of NSNumber * objects -- and returns the average as a double
• DZLSumOfNumbers - only takes one parameter -- a collection of NSNumber * objects -- and returns the sum as a double

Object Operators

• DZLDistinctUnionOfObjects - equivalent to @distinctUnionOfObjects
• DZLUnionOfObjects - equivalent to @unionOfObjects

Array and Set Operators

• DZLDistinctUnionOfArrays - equivalent to @distinctUnionOfArrays
• DZLUnionOfArrays - equivalent to @unionOfArrays
• DZLDistinctUnionOfSets - equivalent to @distinctUnionOfSets

Added Convenience

You can get the average of a collection of numbers using the macros above as follows:

double average = DZLAverage(numbers, NSNumber *, self);

I've added the convenience methods for this and for sum, which can be used as follows:

double average = DZLAverageOfNumbers(numbers);
double sum = DZLSumOfNumbers(numbers);

Installing

Use CocoaPods, or simply add DZLCollectionOperators.h file to your project.

It's as simple as that, it's just a header file with macros!

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