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11605 :: Conversion-to-string-function is hard to find

• Hobbyman (orginal) [2024-05-15T17:01:00+02:00] view original

  After some looking into the paths-module, I noticed that you can convert string to Path-type like so: Path(mystring). Backwards you can convert Path-type to string like so: string(myPath). Conversion with $ doesnt work. Apparently $ is just an alias, which implementations walk behind the offical string-function. However when entering in the standard-lib the string-function is not found.

  • Does this mean that the string-function is a nim-core api-function and it can not be found thru the libs search webpage?
  • If so, is there another way to find it?
  • Should there not be enough separation between names, like in this case between string as type and as function? Like for example toString for the function. Looking for string + conversion gives false positives from the string-type.

  I found it because because I asked (and suddenly remembered) a similar question in the past :-) https://forum.nim-lang.org/t/9615#63168

  Apart from this I think Nim is a beautiful language. :-)

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• SolitudeSF (orginal) [2024-05-15T17:16:55+02:00] view original

  there is no string as a function, string(path) is a simple type conversion, because Path is just a distinct string. it doesnt perform any data modification, just changes the type.

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• Hobbyman (orginal) [2024-05-15T17:36:57+02:00] view original

  @SolitudeSF

  A simple function is still a function...

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• SolitudeSF (orginal) [2024-05-15T17:48:30+02:00] view original

  its not a function. please, read the links i've sent.

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• Hobbyman (orginal) [2024-05-15T18:05:40+02:00] view original

  @SolitudeSF

  I have seen those. Your reply is disconnected from my message..

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• dsrw (orginal) [2024-05-15T19:15:42+02:00] view original

  This is really just repeating what @SolitudeSF said, but you can't find the string function because it doesn't exist. A Path is a distinct string, so essentially it's already a string. Path("/some/path") is a type conversion from string to Path, and string(myPath) is a type conversion from Path to string. Neither are functions, and there's no specific implementation anywhere to find. You're just telling the compiler to treat the data as one type or the other. Basically casting the data, but type safe.

  I'm not sure why Path doesn't provide a $ operator, but you can tell the compiler to use the version from its base type (string) like this: proc `$`*(self: Path): string {.borrow.}.

  There is a universal "turn anything into a string" function called repr, but it's meant as a debugging tool. $ is the default way you should turn things into strings, unless they're distinct strings, in which case you can use a type conversion.

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