Why must MutableMap.keys returns a MutableSet? - kotlin

The MutableMap.keys property is defined as : abstract val keys: MutableSet<K>
I understand that the content of keys will change as the underlying map will change, but how can the keys it-self be modifiable ? IE : I see no logic in calling map.keys.add(xxx)
Rq: I came into this problem while creating a proxy around a MutableMap. I have to temper the entries and keys content, but do not want to implement the remove/add/clear methods

The MutableSet returned by keys throws UnsupportedOperationException if you try to add something. It provides remove and filtering (retainAll) operations, which can simplify actions that don't need to consider the values, only the keys.
If you're already using a MutableMap, it makes sense that you should also be able to work with the keys directly in a mutable way.

It corresponds to the Java Map#keySet() method which is documented as follows:
Returns a Set view of the keys contained in this map. The set is backed by the map, so changes to the map are reflected in the set, and vice-versa. If the map is modified while an iteration over the set is in progress (except through the iterator's own remove operation), the results of the iteration are undefined. The set supports element removal, which removes the corresponding mapping from the map, via the Iterator.remove, Set.remove, removeAll, retainAll, and clear operations. It does not support the add or addAll operations.
The bolded parts explain why it's represented as MutableSet in Kotlin; otherwise you couldn't port Java code using these capabilities.

Related

Efficiently make a view of (or copy) a subset of a large HashMap in Kotlin

I am trying to create a subhashmap from a huge hashmap without copy the original one.
currently I use this:
val map = hashMapOf<Job, Int>()
val copy = HashMap(map)
listToRemoveFromCopy.forEach { copy.remove(it) }
this cost me around 50% of my current algorithm. Because java is calculating the hash of the job really often.
I only want the map minus the listToRemoveFromCopy in a new variable without removing the listToRemoveFromCopy elements from the original list.
anyone know this?
Thanks for help
First, you need to cache the hashcode for Job because any approach you use will be inefficient if you cannot have a set or a map of Job objects that operate at top speed.
Hopefully, the parts that make it a hashcode are immutable otherwise it should not be used as a key. It is very dangerous to mutate a key hashcode/equals while in use in a map or set. You should cache it on the first call to hashCode() so that you do not incur a cost until then unless you are sure you will always need it.
Then change listToRemoveFromCopy to be a Set so it can be efficiently used in many ways. You need to do the prior step before this.
Now you have multiple options. The most efficient is:
Guava has a utility function Maps.filterKeys which returns a view into a map, and you can create a predicate that works against a Set of the items to remove.
val removeKeys = listToRemoveFromCopy.toSet()
val mapView = Maps.filterKeys(map, Predicates.not(Predicates.in(removeKeys)))
But be sure to note some methods on the view are not very efficient. If you avoid those methods, this will be the top performing option:
Many of the filtered map's methods, such as size(), iterate across every key/value mapping in the underlying map and determine which satisfy the filter. When a live view is not needed, it may be faster to copy the filtered map and use the copy.
If you need to make a copy instead, you have a few approaches:
Use filterKeys on the map to create a new map in one shot. This is good if the remove list might be a larger percentage of the total keys.
val removeKeys = listToRemoveFromCopy.toSet()
val newMap = map.filterKeys { it !in removeKeys }
Another tempting option you should be careful about is the minus - operator which copies the full map and then removes the items. It can use the listToRemoveFromCopy as-is without it being a set, but the full map copy might undo the benefit. So do not do this unless the remove list is a small percentage of keys.
val newMapButSlower = map - listToRemoveFromCopy
You could pick one model over the other depending on the ratio between map size and remove list size, find a breaking point that works for your "huge".
Implementing your own view into the map to avoid a copy is possible, but not trivial (and by that I mean very complex). Every method you override has to do the correct thing at all times (including the map's own hashCode and equals), and other views would have to be created around the key set and values. The entrySet would be nasty to get right. I'd look for a pre-written solution before attempting your own (the Guava one above or other). This zero-copy model would be the most efficient solution but the most code and is what I would do in the same case if "huge" meant significant processing time. There is a lot that you can get wrong with this approach if you misunderstand any part of the implementation contract.
You could wrap the Guava solution with one that maintains the size attribute as items are manipulated and therefore be efficient for that case. You can also write a more efficient solution if you know the original map is read-only. For ideas, check out the Guava implementation of FilteredKeyMap and its ancestor AbstractFilteredMap.
In summary, likely the caching of your hashcode is going to give you the biggest result for the effort. Start there. You'll need it to do even for the Guava approach.
In addition to Axel's direct answer:
Could calculating the hashcode of a Job be optimised?  If the calculation can't be sped up, could it cache the result?  (There's ample precedent for this, including java.lang.String.)  Or if the class isn't under your control, could you create a delegate/wrapper that overrides the hashcode calculation?
You can use filterKeys function. It will iterate map only once
val copy = map.filterKeys { it !in listToRemoveFromCopy }

How to remove an item from Redis set using a property as determination?

When we remove items from a Redis Set using servicestack typed client
redisset = typedclient.Sets["setkey"];
redisset.remove(object1);
It usually will check every properties of object1, how do we define class of object1 which property to check for equality?
For example, object1 has those properties
session_key:"somekey"
session_name:"a name"
author:"Harry"
...
When we try to remove it from a set, we only want it to check to see if the session_key is matching and ignore other properties.
I thought I saw it once some where but I couldn't find it anymore.
Complex types in Sets are blobbed as JSON. None of Redis Operations work on blobbed values which are opaque to Redis. You would need to go through each item in the Set on the client, i.e. deserialize it back into an object, check the session key then remove the matching entry.
The only option to do this on the server is to use a custom server-side lua script to parse the json into a Lua object and check the property that way.

Differences between Function that returns a string and read only string property [duplicate]

I need to expose the "is mapped?" state of an instance of a class. The outcome is determined by a basic check. It is not simply exposing the value of a field. I am unsure as to whether I should use a read-only property or a method.
Read-only property:
public bool IsMapped
{
get
{
return MappedField != null;
}
}
Method:
public bool IsMapped()
{
return MappedField != null;
}
I have read MSDN's Choosing Between Properties and Methods but I am still unsure.
The C# standard says
§ 8.7.4
A property is a member that provides access to a characteristic of an object or a class. Examples of properties include the length of a string, the size of a font, the caption of a window, the name of a customer, and so on. Properties are a natural extension of fields. Both are named members with associated types, and the syntax for accessing fields and properties is the same. However, unlike fields, properties do not denote storage locations. Instead, properties have accessors that specify the statements to be executed when their values are read or written.
while as methods are defined as
§ 8.7.3
A method is a member that implements a computation or action that can be performed by an object or class. Methods have a (possibly empty) list of formal parameters, a return value (unless the method’s return-type is void ), and are either static or non-static.
Properties and methods are used to realize encapsulation. Properties encapsulate data, methods encapsulate logic. And this is why you should prefer a read-only property if you are exposing data. In your case there is no logic that modifies the internal state of your object. You want to provide access to a characteristic of an object.
Whether an instance of your object IsMapped or not is a characteristic of your object. It contains a check, but that's why you have properties to access it. Properties can be defined using logic, but they should not expose logic. Just like the example mentioned in the first quote: Imagine the String.Length property. Depending on the implementation, it may be that this property loops through the string and counts the characters. It also does perform an operation, but "from the outside" it just give's an statement over the internal state/characteristics of the object.
I would use the property, because there is no real "doing" (action), no side effects and it's not too complex.
I personally believe that a method should do something or perform some action. You are not performing anything inside IsMapped so it should be a property
I'd go for a property. Mostly because the first senctence on the referenced MSDN-article:
In general, methods represent actions and properties represent data.
In this case it seems pretty clear to me that it should be a property. It's a simple check, no logic, no side effects, no performance impact. It doesn't get much simpler than that check.
Edit:
Please note that if there was any of the above mentioned and you would put it into a method, that method should include a strong verb, not an auxiliary verb like is or has. A method does something. You could name it VerifyMapping or DetermineMappingExistance or something else as long as it starts with a verb.
I think this line in your link is the answer
methods represent actions and properties represent data.
There is no action here, just a piece of data. So it's a Property.
In situations/languages where you have access to both of these constructs, the general divide is as follows:
If the request is for something the object has, use a property (or a field).
If the request is for the result of something the object does, use a method.
A little more specifically, a property is to be used to access, in read and/or write fashion, a data member that is (for consuming purposes) owned by the object exposing the property. Properties are better than fields because the data doesn't have to exist in persistent form all the time (they allow you to be "lazy" about calculation or retrieval of this data value), and they're better than methods for this purpose because you can still use them in code as if they were public fields.
Properties should not, however, result in side effects (with the possible, understandable exception of setting a variable meant to persist the value being returned, avoiding expensive recalculation of a value needed many times); they should, all other things being equal, return a deterministic result (so NextRandomNumber is a bad conceptual choice for a property) and the calculation should not result in the alteration of any state data that would affect other calculations (for instance, getting PropertyA and PropertyB in that order should not return any different result than getting PropertyB and then PropertyA).
A method, OTOH, is conceptually understood as performing some operation and returning the result; in short, it does something, which may extend beyond the scope of computing a return value. Methods, therefore, are to be used when an operation that returns a value has additional side effects. The return value may still be the result of some calculation, but the method may have computed it non-deterministically (GetNextRandomNumber()), or the returned data is in the form of a unique instance of an object, and calling the method again produces a different instance even if it may have the same data (GetCurrentStatus()), or the method may alter state data such that doing exactly the same thing twice in a row produces different results (EncryptDataBlock(); many encryption ciphers work this way by design to ensure encrypting the same data twice in a row produces different ciphertexts).
If at any point you'll need to add parameters in order to get the value, then you need a method. Otherwise you need a property
IMHO , the first read-only property is correct because IsMapped as a Attribute of your object, and you're not performing an action (only an evaluation), but at the end of the day consistancy with your existing codebase probably counts for more than semantics.... unless this is a uni assignment
I'll agree with people here in saying that because it is obtaining data, and has no side-effects, it should be a property.
To expand on that, I'd also accept some side-effects with a setter (but not a getter) if the side-effects made sense to someone "looking at it from the outside".
One way to think about it is that methods are verbs, and properties are adjectives (meanwhile, the objects themselves are nouns, and static objects are abstract nouns).
The only exception to the verb/adjective guideline is that it can make sense to use a method rather than a property when obtaining (or setting) the information in question can be very expensive: Logically, such a feature should probably still be a property, but people are used to thinking of properties as low-impact performance-wise and while there's no real reason why that should always be the case, it could be useful to highlight that GetIsMapped() is relatively heavy perform-wise if it in fact was.
At the level of the running code, there's absolutely no difference between calling a property and calling an equivalent method to get or set; it's all about making life easier for the person writing code that uses it.
I would expect property as it only is returning the detail of a field. On the other hand I would expect
MappedFields[] mf;
public bool IsMapped()
{
mf.All(x => x != null);
}
you should use the property because c# has properties for this reason

RavenDb GenerateDocumentKey

I need to generate Id for child object of my document. What is the current syntax for generating document key?
session.Advanced.Conventions.GenerateDocumentKey(document) is not there anymore. I've found _documentSession.Advanced.DocumentStore.Conventions.GenerateDocumentKey method but its' signature is weird: I am okay with default key generation algorithm I just want to pass an object and receive an Id.
The default implementation of GenerateDocumentKey is to get the "dynamic tag name" for the class, and append a slash. For example, class Foo would turn into Foos/ which then goes through the HiLoKeyGenerator so that ids can be assigned on the client-side without having to consult the server each time.
If you really want this behavior, you could try to use the HiLoKeyGenerator on your own, but have you considered something simpler? I don't know what your model is, but if the child thing is fully owned by the containing document (which it should be, to be in the same document) have you have several much easier options:
Just use the index within the collection
Keep a int NextChildThingId property on the document and increment that every time you add a ChildThing
Just use a Guid, although those are no fun to read, type, look at, compare, or speak to someone over the phone.

Map and SortedMap - redundant methods declaration

When inspecting Map and SortedMap interfaces, I have noticed many methods that are already defined within Map interface are also redefined (not simply let inherited) within the SortedMap.
SortedMap extending Map, why redeclaring some methods like for instance:
Set<K> keySet();
Collection<V> values();
Why this redundancy?
(I use JDK 7)
I would say that methods are declared in interfaces and methods are defined in classes.
Map are not guaranteed to be ordered but Sorted Maps are. This means what each method will guarantee is different and needs different documentation.
The Javadoc for Map.keySet() is highlighting the differences
Returns a Set view of the keys contained in this map. The set is backed by the map, so changes to the map are reflected in the set, and vice-versa. If the map is modified while an iteration over the set is in progress (except through the iterator's own remove operation), the results of the iteration are undefined. The set supports element removal, which removes the corresponding mapping from the map, via the Iterator.remove, Set.remove, removeAll, retainAll, and clear operations. It does not support the add or addAll operations.
Returns:
a set view of the keys contained in this map
The Javadoc for SortedMap.keySet() is
Returns a Set view of the keys contained in this map. The set's iterator returns the keys in ascending order. The set is backed by the map, so changes to the map are reflected in the set, and vice-versa. If the map is modified while an iteration over the set is in progress (except through the iterator's own remove operation), the results of the iteration are undefined. The set supports element removal, which removes the corresponding mapping from the map, via the Iterator.remove, Set.remove, removeAll, retainAll, and clear operations. It does not support the add or addAll operations.
Specified by:
keySet in interface Map
Returns:
a set view of the keys contained in this map, sorted in ascending order