readme.md

Optional

The optional package is a Golang package that provides a type called Option for representing optional values. It allows you to handle scenarios where a value may or may not be present. This include compatibility with dynamic types such as maps and JSON where the existence of a key may not be guaranteed. In this case the Option type can be used to represent the existence of a key and its value.

Installation

To use the optional package in your Golang project, you can use the following command to install it:

go get github.com/LNMMusic/optional

Usage

Import the optional package in your Go code:

import "github.com/LNMMusic/optional"

Creating an Optional Value

To create an optional value, you can use the Some and None functions.

Some

The Some function creates an optional value with a non-nil inner value.

value := 42
opt := optional.Some[int](value)

None

The None function creates an optional value with a nil inner value.

opt := optional.None[int]()

Checking if an Optional Value is Some

You can check if an optional value is a Some value by using the IsSome method.

if opt.IsSome() {
    // The optional value is Some
} else {
    // The optional value is None
}

Unwrapping an Optional Value

To retrieve the inner value of a Some optional value, you can use the Unwrap method. It returns the inner value. If the optional value is None, the function panics. You should handle this appropriately in your code.

if opt.IsSome() {
	value := opt.Unwrap()
	// Do something with the value
} else {
	// The optional value is None
}

Example

Here's an example that demonstrates the usage of the optional package:

package main

import (
	"fmt"

	"github.com/LNMMusic/optional"
)

func main() {
	opt := optional.Some[int](42)
	if opt.IsSome() {
		value := opt.Unwrap()
		fmt.Printf("The optional value is Some and its value is %d\n", value)
	} else {
		fmt.Println("The optional value is None")
	}
}

Error Handling

If you attempt to call the Unwrap method on a None optional value, it will panic. You should handle this error appropriately in your code, by first checking if the optional value is Some or None.

if opt.IsSome() {
	value := opt.Unwrap()
	// Do something with the value
} else {
	// The optional value is None
}

JSON Marshalling and Unmarshalling

The Option type in the optional package supports JSON marshalling and unmarshalling. Here are some important points to consider:

• When unmarshalling JSON into an optional value, make sure to work with a pointer to the optional value. This allows the JSON unmarshalling process to modify the inner value correctly.
• When marshalling an optional value to JSON, work with a non-pointer value. This ensures that Go's JSON marshalling rules are followed.

Unmarshalling JSON

The UnmarshalJSON method allows you to unmarshal JSON data into an optional value.

data := []byte(`{"Value":42}`)
var opt optional.Option[int]
err := json.Unmarshal(data, &opt)
if err != nil {
    // Handle the error
}

Marshalling JSON

The MarshalJSON method allows you to marshal an optional value to JSON.

opt := optional.Some(42)
data, err := json.Marshal(opt)
if err != nil {
    // Handle the error
} else {
    fmt.Println(string(data))
}

The output of the above code is 42 due to encodes straight forward the inner value of the optional

Please note that marshalling a None optional value will result in null in the JSON output.

Rules

• If json is null, the optional value will be None. This means that optional DOES NOT DISTINGUISH between the absence of the key and the presence of the key with a null value. All null values are treated as non-existent-values. To avoid this, later will be available a new type called Nullable that will be able to extend the values on go with the null value. This can be combined with the optional type to create a NullableOptional type that will be able to distinguish between the absence of the key and the presence of the key with a null value.

var optionalNullable := optional.Some[Nullable[int]](Nullable[int]{Value: nil})

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Nullable

About Nullable and Optionals

In modern programming and data handling, understanding and differentiating the presence of a value from its content is crucial. This repository contains two distinct Go packages—nullable and optionals—designed to address and manipulate these aspects with clarity and efficiency in structured and semi-structured data environments.

Why Nullable?

In structured data systems like SQL databases or data represented in CSV files, fields are consistently present; however, their values can explicitly be null. The nullable package provides a robust way to handle such scenarios in Go programming. It introduces a Null[T] generic type that encapsulates the presence and actual content of a value through a dual-state mechanism:

• Null State: Represents the absence of a value (akin to NULL in databases), clearly differentiating from...
• Not Null State: A valid, user-defined value of type T.

Using nullable, developers can explicitly handle and differentiate between "no data" and "zero data," enhancing the robustness and clarity of data handling operations.

Importance of Optionals

For semi-structured data like JSON, where fields may not be consistently present, the theory behind and implementation of optionals is vital. Unlike nullable, which deals with the nuance of value presence within statically existing fields, optionals tackles the dynamism of fields themselves — they can either exist or not. This is particularly relevant in programming environments dealing with dynamic types and memory management (like slices and maps in Go), where the structure is managed in heap memory and can change at runtime.

Conclusion

Together, these packages offer a structured approach to data handling that aligns with the intrinsic properties of different data schemas, from rigidly structured to flexible, schema-less formats. They promote safer, more predictable code by explicitly managing the nuances of data presence and value nullability, making them indispensable for developers working across various data-intensive applications.

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License

This package is licensed

under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more information.