Initial version of a serialization framework

pkg/serialization/lib/src/serialization_helpers.dart

Index: pkg/serialization/lib/src/serialization_helpers.dart
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--- pkg/serialization/lib/src/serialization_helpers.dart	(revision 0)
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@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2012, the Dart project authors.  Please see the AUTHORS file
+// for details. All rights reserved. Use of this source code is governed by a
+// BSD-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+/**
+ * This contains extra functions and classes useful for implementing
+ * serialiation. Some or all of them might be removable with changes to the
+ * core library.
+ */
+library serialization_helpers;
+
+/**
+ * A named function of one argument that just returns it. Useful for using
+ * as a default value for a function parameter or other places where you want
+ * to concisely provide a function that just returns its argument.
+ */
+doNothing(x) => x;
+
+/** Concatenate two lists. Handle the case where one or both might be null. */
+append(List a, List b) {
+  if (a == null) {
+    if (b == null) return []; else return new List.from(b);
+  }
+  if (b == null) return new List.from(a);
+  var result = new List.from(a);
+  result.addAll(b);
+  return result;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Return a sorted version of [aCollection], using the default sort criterion.
+ * Always returns a List, regardless of the type of [aCollection].
+ */
+List sorted(aCollection) {
+  var result = new List.from(aCollection);
+  result.sort();
+  return result;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Be able to iterate polymorphically between List-like and Map-like things.
+ * For example, keysAndValues(["a", "b", "c"]).forEach((key, value) => ...);
+ * will loop over the key/value pairs 1/"a", 2/"b", 3/"c", as if the argument
+ * was a Map from integer keys to string values.
+ * Only supports forEach() and map() operations because that was all the code
+ * needed for the moment.
+ */
+MapLikeIterable keysAndValues(x) => new MapLikeIterable(x);
+
+/**
+ * A class for iterating over things as if they were Maps, which primarily
+ * means that forEach() and map() pass two arguments, and map() returns a new
+ * Map with the same keys as [collection] and values which have been transformed
+ * by the argument to map().
+ */
+class MapLikeIterable {
+  MapLikeIterable(this.collection);
+  final collection;
+
+  /** Iterate over the collection, passing both key and value parameters. */
+  void forEach(Function f) {
+    if (collection is Map) {
+       collection.forEach(f);
+    } else {
+      Iterator iterator = collection.iterator();
+      for (var i = 0; i < collection.length; i++) {
+        f(i, iterator.next());
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Return a new collection whose keys are the same as [collection], but whose
+   * values are the result of applying [f] to the key/value pairs. So, if
+   * [collection] is a List, it will be the same as the map() method if the
+   * [key] parameter wasn't passed.
+   */
+  map(Function f) {
+    var result = copyEmpty();
+    forEach((key, value) {
+       result[key] = f(key, value);
+    });
+    return result;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Return an empty copy of our collection. Very limited, only knows enough
+   * to return a Map or List as appropriate.
+   */
+  copyEmpty() {
+    if (collection is Map) return new Map();
+    return new List(collection.length);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Return an iterator for [collection]. If it's a Map, then return an iterator
+   * on its values. Otherwise just return the collection's normal iterator.
+   */
+  Iterator iterator() {
+    if (collection is Map) {
+      return collection.values.iterator();
+    } else {
+      return collection.iterator();
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * An inverse of MapLikeIterable. Lets you iterate polymorphically between
+ * List-like and Map-like things, but making them behave like Lists, instead
+ * of behaving like Maps.
+ * So values(["a", "b", "c"]).forEach((value) => ...);
+ * will loop over the values "a", "b", "c", as if it were a List of values.
+ * Only supports forEach() and map() operations because that was all I needed
+ * for the moment.
+ */
+ListLikeIterable values(x) => new ListLikeIterable(x);
+
+/**
+ * A class for iterating over things as if they were Lists, which primarily
+ * means that forEach passes one argument, and map() returns a new Map
+ * with the same keys as [collection] and values which haev been transformed
+ * by the argument to map().
+ */
+class ListLikeIterable {
+  ListLikeIterable(this.collection);
+  final collection;
+
+  /** Iterate over the collection, passing just the value parameters. */
+  forEach(f) {
+    if (collection is Map) {
+      collection.forEach((key, value) => f(value));
+    } else {
+      collection.forEach(f);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Return a new collection whose keys are the same as [collection], but whose
+   * values are the result of applying [f] to the key/value pairs. So, if
+   * [collection] is a List, it will be the same as if map() had been called
+   * directly on [collection].
+   */
+  map(Function f) {
+    if (collection is Map) {
+      var result = copyEmpty();
+      collection.forEach((key, value) {
+        result[key] = f(value);
+      });
+      return result;
+    } else {
+      return collection.map(f);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Return an empty copy of our collection. Very limited, only knows enough
+   * to return a Map or List as appropriate.
+   */
+  copyEmpty() {
+    if (collection is Map) return new Map();
+    return new List(collection.length);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Return an iterator that behaves like a List iterator, taking one parameter.
+   */
+  Iterator iterator() {
+    if (collection is Map) {
+      return collection.values.iterator();
+    } else {
+      return collection.iterator();
+    }
+  }
+}