Removing weird `is...` getters?

[danielgindi]

When first implementing this library, ObjC compatibility was in mind all the time. And so, is getters were written too. The problem is, there was no feature like getter=... in Swift. (There's a relatively new option to use @objc(is...) on the getter, but that also requires declaring an additional private variable)

Now it seems that as Swift is getting more mature, there is not going to be such a feature. Apple also tends to write Swift properties without the is prefix, unless there's only a getter.

I want to hear your thoughts, pros and cons, before making a decision on this. Shoot.

[danielgindi]

@petester42

[pmairoldi]

I'm all for normailizing the names with swift conventions. In addition you can have a public getter and a private setting for the same property in swift. https://www.natashatherobot.com/swift-magic-public-getter-private-setter/

[danielgindi]

I actually didn't understand how would a private getter assist us in this case...

[pmairoldi]

No no. The setter would be private so you don't need a separate private property to have only a public getter. So we can use the @objc tag on that property to change the name.

[danielgindi]

Still I don't get how that would help? Without private setter, for drawValuesEnabled, we would:

private var _drawValuesEnabled: Bool = false
open var drawValuesEnabled: Bool
{
  @objc(isDrawValuesEnabled) get { return _drawValuesEnabled }
  set { _drawValuesEnabled = newValue }
}

Which will achieve @objc compatibility.

Also I'm not sure about this yet, as Apple did change hidden to isHidden on UIView in Swift version. Can't find a consistent rule, but I think that just hidden sounds more Swifty, and isHidden more objc...

[pmairoldi]

What I am talking about would look like this:

@objc(isDrawValuesEnabled)
open private(set) var drawValuesEnabled: Bool

No need for a separate _drawValuesEnabled that way you can change the name and have only the getter accessible.

For the case you just mentioned wouldn't it just be drawValuesEnabled as a public property? why do you even need the private variable like so:

@objc(isDrawValuesEnabled)
open var drawValuesEnabled: Bool

[danielgindi]

If the setter is private then what's the point? We need a public setter...

The private variable is because we do @objc(isDrawValuesEnabled) get, we change specifically the name of the getter, not the whole property

[pmairoldi]

Ya I get your point now. I think the way apple is pushing is to have it be as readable as possible. So we could just rename drawValueEnabled to canDrawValues and not worry about the objc stuff.

[danielgindi]

Yeah but that's one property, there are lots of properties to worry about, a lot of names. That is why I thought about just removing the is getters completely

[pmairoldi]

That sounds good to me.

[liuxuan30]

seems swift likes isHidden style.. I checked several places like isContinuous, isKeyWindow

[jjatie]

Swift's API guidelines are clear on this,

Uses of Boolean methods and properties should read as assertions about the receiver when the use is nonmutating, e.g. x.isEmpty, line1.intersects(line2).