Does Objective-C support Generics?

Question

I wonder whether Objective-C offers any support for generics?

For instance, consider a method:

-(void) sort: (NSMutableArray *) deck {
}

Answer 1

Inspired by MonomorphicArray I came up with another idea:

Create a subclass on NSMutableArray, that takes two blocks:

• AddBlock — a block that test, if one or more requirements are full filed and adds the object only, if its passes the test
• FailBlock — a block, that defines what happens, if the test was not successful.

The AddBlock could test for a certain class membership like

^BOOL(id element) {
    return [element isKindOfClass:[NSString class]];
}

and the FailBlock can raise an exception, fail silently or add the element, that failed the test, to another Array. If no failBlock is provided, a default block will raise an error.

The blocks will define, if an array acts like an generic array, or as a filter.
I will give an complete example for the second case.

VSBlockTestedObjectArray.h

#import 
typedef BOOL(^AddBlock)(id element); 
typedef void(^FailBlock)(id element); 

@interface VSBlockTestedObjectArray : NSMutableArray

@property (nonatomic, copy, readonly) AddBlock testBlock;
@property (nonatomic, copy, readonly) FailBlock failBlock;

-(id)initWithTestBlock:(AddBlock)testBlock FailBlock:(FailBlock)failBlock Capacity:(NSUInteger)capacity;
-(id)initWithTestBlock:(AddBlock)testBlock FailBlock:(FailBlock)failBlock;
-(id)initWithTestBlock:(AddBlock)testBlock;    
@end

VSBlockTestedObjectArray.m

#import "VSBlockTestedObjectArray.h"

@interface VSBlockTestedObjectArray ()
@property (nonatomic, retain) NSMutableArray *realArray;
-(void)errorWhileInitializing:(SEL)selector;
@end

@implementation VSBlockTestedObjectArray
@synthesize testBlock = _testBlock;
@synthesize failBlock = _failBlock;
@synthesize realArray = _realArray;


-(id)initWithCapacity:(NSUInteger)capacity
{
    if (self = [super init]) {
        _realArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:capacity];
    }

    return self;
}

-(id)initWithTestBlock:(AddBlock)testBlock 
             FailBlock:(FailBlock)failBlock 
              Capacity:(NSUInteger)capacity
{
    self = [self initWithCapacity:capacity];
    if (self) {
        _testBlock = [testBlock copy];
        _failBlock = [failBlock copy];
    }

    return self;
}

-(id)initWithTestBlock:(AddBlock)testBlock FailBlock:(FailBlock)failBlock
{
    return [self initWithTestBlock:testBlock FailBlock:failBlock Capacity:0];
}

-(id)initWithTestBlock:(AddBlock)testBlock
{
    return [self initWithTestBlock:testBlock FailBlock:^(id element) {
        [NSException raise:@"NotSupportedElement" format:@"%@ faild the test and can't be add to this VSBlockTestedObjectArray", element];
    } Capacity:0];
}


- (void)dealloc {
    [_failBlock release];
    [_testBlock release];
    self.realArray = nil;
    [super dealloc];
}


- (void) insertObject:(id)anObject atIndex:(NSUInteger)index
{
    if(self.testBlock(anObject))
        [self.realArray insertObject:anObject atIndex:index];
    else
        self.failBlock(anObject);
}

- (void) removeObjectAtIndex:(NSUInteger)index
{
    [self.realArray removeObjectAtIndex:index];
}

-(NSUInteger)count
{
    return [self.realArray count];
}

- (id) objectAtIndex:(NSUInteger)index
{
    return [self.realArray objectAtIndex:index];
}



-(void)errorWhileInitializing:(SEL)selector
{
    [NSException raise:@"NotSupportedInstantiation" format:@"not supported %@", NSStringFromSelector(selector)];
}
- (id)initWithArray:(NSArray *)anArray { [self errorWhileInitializing:_cmd]; return nil;}
- (id)initWithArray:(NSArray *)array copyItems:(BOOL)flag { [self errorWhileInitializing:_cmd]; return nil;}
- (id)initWithContentsOfFile:(NSString *)aPath{ [self errorWhileInitializing:_cmd]; return nil;}
- (id)initWithContentsOfURL:(NSURL *)aURL{ [self errorWhileInitializing:_cmd]; return nil;}
- (id)initWithObjects:(id)firstObj, ... { [self errorWhileInitializing:_cmd]; return nil;}
- (id)initWithObjects:(const id *)objects count:(NSUInteger)count { [self errorWhileInitializing:_cmd]; return nil;}

@end

Use it like:

VSBlockTestedObjectArray *stringArray = [[VSBlockTestedObjectArray alloc] initWithTestBlock:^BOOL(id element) {
    return [element isKindOfClass:[NSString class]];
} FailBlock:^(id element) {
    NSLog(@"%@ can't be added, didn't pass the test. It is not an object of class NSString", element);
}];


VSBlockTestedObjectArray *numberArray = [[VSBlockTestedObjectArray alloc] initWithTestBlock:^BOOL(id element) {
    return [element isKindOfClass:[NSNumber class]];
} FailBlock:^(id element) {
    NSLog(@"%@ can't be added, didn't pass the test. It is not an object of class NSNumber", element);
}];


[stringArray addObject:@"test"];
[stringArray addObject:@"test1"];
[stringArray addObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:9]];
[stringArray addObject:@"test2"];
[stringArray addObject:@"test3"];


[numberArray addObject:@"test"];
[numberArray addObject:@"test1"];
[numberArray addObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:9]];
[numberArray addObject:@"test2"];
[numberArray addObject:@"test3"];


NSLog(@"%@", stringArray);
NSLog(@"%@", numberArray);

Note: This code is not fully tested. Probably some of the unimplemented method should be implemented for usage in real world programs.