Type erasure e parametri di tipo reified

Cos'è la type erasure?

fun main() {
    val strings: List<String> = listOf("a", "b")
    val ints: List<Int> = listOf(1, 2)
    println(strings.javaClass == ints.javaClass) // true: both ArrayList
    println(strings is List<*>)  // OK with star
    // println(strings is List<String>) // warning: unchecked cast
}

Il problema: impossibile controllare i tipi cancellati

fun checkType(obj: Any) {
    // This works:
    if (obj is List<*>) println("It's a list of something")
    // This doesn't compile cleanly:
    // if (obj is List<String>) println("It's a list of strings") // unchecked
}
fun main() {
    checkType(listOf("hello"))
    checkType(42)
}

Riepilogo delle funzioni inline

inline fun <T> myRun(block: () -> T): T = block()
fun main() {
    val result = myRun { 42 }
    println(result) // 42
    // The compiler inlines the lambda body — no object allocation
}

reified: accesso a T a runtime

inline fun <reified T> isInstance(value: Any): Boolean = value is T
fun main() {
    println(isInstance<String>("hello"))  // true
    println(isInstance<Int>("hello"))     // false
    println(isInstance<List<*>>(listOf())) // true
}

Ottenere la KClass di T

inline fun <reified T> classNameOf(): String = T::class.simpleName ?: "Unknown"
fun main() {
    println(classNameOf<String>())   // String
    println(classNameOf<Int>())      // Int
    println(classNameOf<List<*>>())  // List
}

Cast sicuro con reified

inline fun <reified T> Any?.safeCast(): T? = this as? T
fun main() {
    val obj: Any = "Hello"
    val s: String? = obj.safeCast<String>()
    val i: Int? = obj.safeCast<Int>()
    println(s) // Hello
    println(i) // null
}

Parsing JSON con reified

import com.google.gson.Gson
// Simulated without real Gson:
inline fun <reified T> parseJson(json: String): T {
    return Gson().fromJson(json, T::class.java)
}
// Usage:
// val user: User = parseJson<User>("""{"name":"Alice"}""")

reified con filterIsInstance

fun main() {
    val mixed: List<Any> = listOf(1, "hello", 2.5, "world", true)
    val strings = mixed.filterIsInstance<String>()
    val ints = mixed.filterIsInstance<Int>()
    println(strings) // [hello, world]
    println(ints)    // [1]
}

Impossibile usare reified nelle funzioni non inline

// Error:
// fun <reified T> broken(): String = T::class.simpleName ?: "?"

// Must be inline:
inline fun <reified T> correct(): String = T::class.simpleName ?: "?"
fun main() {
    println(correct<Double>()) // Double
}

reified e reflection

inline fun <reified T : Any> properties(): List<String> =
    T::class.members.map { it.name }
data class Point(val x: Int, val y: Int)
fun main() {
    println(properties<Point>()) // [x, y, component1, component2, copy, equals, hashCode, toString]
}

Pratica: service locator type-safe

val registry = mutableMapOf<kotlin.reflect.KClass<*>, Any>()
inline fun <reified T : Any> register(instance: T) { registry[T::class] = instance }
@Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
inline fun <reified T : Any> resolve(): T = registry[T::class] as T
class Logger { fun log(msg: String) = println("[LOG] $msg") }
fun main() {
    register(Logger())
    resolve<Logger>().log("Service located!")
}

Limitazioni di reified

inline fun <reified T> foo() {
    val clazz = T::class // OK here
    // bar(clazz)        // must pass clazz explicitly to non-inline funs
    println(clazz.simpleName)
}
fun bar(clazz: kotlin.reflect.KClass<*>) = println(clazz.simpleName)
fun main() { foo<String>() }

Verifica rapida

Riepilogo