scala generic function return type

Question

I tried writing a function with a generic return type but it doesn't work unless I cast the return type. Please see the function getSomething() below I expected it to work without the casting. What might I be doing wrong here?

trait Sup

class Sub extends Sup {
  def getString = "I am Sub"
}

class Sub2 extends Sup {
  def getInt = 100
}

def getSomething[A <: Sup](str: String) : A  = {
  str match {
    case "sub" => getSub.asInstanceOf[A]
    case "sub2" => getSub2.asInstanceOf[A]
  }
}

def getSub(): Sub = {
  new Sub
}

def getSub2() : Sub2 = {
  new Sub2
}

val x = getSomething[Sub]("sub").getString
val y = getSomething[Sub2]("sub2").getInt

Eboat

Answer 1

As Alexey mentions, the instanceOf is needed to force a link between the expected type and the type of the object returned. It's the equivalent of saying: "Compiler, trust me, I'm giving you an 'A'" and it's not very safe as it depends of us to provide a correct type.

If we want the type system to figure things out for us, we need to give it some additional information. One way to do that in Scala is to define some factory that knows how to produce instances of our types and evidence that allows that factory to return our specific types.

This is a version of the code above introducing such construct and using ContextBounds to obtain the right factory instance of the type we want.

trait Sup 

class Sub extends Sup {
  val str = "I'm a Sub"
}

class Sub2 extends Sup {
  val number = 42
}

trait SupProvider[T <: Sup] {
  def instance:T
}

object SupProvider {
  def getSomeSup[T<:Sup:SupProvider]: T = implicitly[SupProvider[T]].instance
  implicit object SubProvider extends SupProvider[Sub] {
    def instance = new Sub
  }
  implicit object Sub2Provider extends SupProvider[Sub2] {
    def instance = new Sub2
  }  
}

SupProvider.getSomeSup[Sub].str
// res: String = I'm a Sub

SupProvider.getSomeSup[Sub2].number
// res: Int = 42

Moonlighting

what if Sub and Sub2 are case classes where str and number are case class parameters? Is there a way then to solve the problem with type classes? – Asmodeus

Answer 2

The error messages you get without asInstanceOf tell you exactly what you are doing wrong. In case "sub", the body gives a Sub, and the compiler has no reason to think A is a supertype of Sub (or that Sub can be implicitly converted to A).

Suppose it worked. Then the following calls would be legal:

val z = getSomething[Sub]("sub2").getString

or

trait Sub3 extends Sup
val w = getSomething[Sub3]("sup")

What should happen in either case?

Beberg