Implicit Conversions in Scala
Implicit conversions in Scala are the set of methods that are apply when an object of wrong type is used. It allows the compiler to automatically convert of one type to another.
Implicit conversions are applied in two conditions:
- First, if an expression of type A and S does not match to the expected expression type B.
- Second, in a selection e.m of expression e of type A, if the selector m does not represent a member of A.
In the first condition, a conversion is searched which is appropriate to the expression and whose result type matches to B. In the second condition, a conversion is searched which appropriate to the expression and whose result carries a member named m.
Now, let us understand with an example.
The following operation on the two lists xa and ya of type List[Int] is legal:
xa = ya
Suppose the implicit methods listorder and intorder are defined below in the scope:
implicit def listorder[A](x: List[A])
(implicit elemorder: A => Ordered[A]): Ordered[List[A]] =
new Ordered[List[A]] { /* .. */ }
implicit def intorder(x: Int): Ordered[Int] =
new Ordered[Int] { /* .. */ }
Lets look at an example.
Example :
Scala
// Scala program of implicit conversionsimport A.fromStringimport scala.language.implicitConversions case class A(s: String)object A{ // Using implicitConversions implicit def fromString(s: String): A = A(s)} class C { def m1(a: A) = println(a) def m(s: String) = m1(s)} // Creating objectobject C { // Main method def main(args: Array[String]) { var b : A = ("GeeksforGeeks") println(b) }} |
Output :
A(GeeksforGeeks)
Implicit conversion has a drawback if it is used randomly, the compiler warns when compiling the implicit conversion definition.
To avoid the warnings, we need to take either of these two steps:
- Import scala.language.implicitConversions into the scope of the implicit conversion definition.
- Invoke the compiler with -language:implicitConversions.
Now, let’s look at an another example.
Example :
Scala
// Scala program of implicit conversionsimport ComplexImplicits._object ComplexImplicits{ // implicit conversion implicit def DoubleComplex(value : Double) = new Complex(value,0.0) implicit def TupleComplex(value : Tuple2[Double,Double]) = new Complex(value._1,value._2);}// Creating a class containing different methodclass Complex(val r : Double, val i : Double) { def +(that: Complex) : Complex = (this.r + that.r, this.i + that.i) def -(that: Complex) : Complex = (this.r - that.r, this.i + that.i) def unary_~ = Math.sqrt(r * r + i * i) override def toString = r + " + " + i + "i" }// Creating Objectobject Complex { val i = new Complex(0,1);// Main method def main(args : Array[String]) : Unit ={ var a : Complex = (6.0,4.0) var b : Complex = (1.0,2.0) println(a) println(a + b) println(a - b) println(~b) var c = 5 + b println(c) var d = (3.0,3.0) + c println(d) }} |
Output :
6.0 + 4.0i 7.0 + 6.0i 5.0 + 6.0i 2.23606797749979 6.0 + 2.0i 9.0 + 5.0i
