Some and None

Lifting values and returning something instead of nothing.

Some<T>(T) -> Option<T>

To lift a value into the world of Option<T> the main functions we use are all called Some.

The following snippets all do the same thing, which is wrap a value in Some<T> (you should be able to run this code in C# interactive):

int number = 42;

// use a pure function to return a value as an Option<T>
Option<int> option = F.OptionF.Some(number);

// use the same function, but in my preferred style
using static F.OptionF;
Option<int> option = Some(value);

// use implicit operator - which calls F.OptionF.Some
Option<int> option = number;

// use an extension method - which calls F.OptionF.Some
Option<int> option = number.Some();

In each case the variable option is of type Option<int>, but specifically Some<int>, which means you can do the following:

if (option is Some<int> number)
{
    Console.Write("The answer to the question is '{0}'.", number.Value);
}

// The answer to the question is '42'.

This is nice and simple, but what if your value comes from another function? Wouldn't it be nice if you could pass a Func<T> instead of a T, and wouldn't it be nice if it caught any exceptions for you, so don't have to wrap it in a try..catch block?

Yes, it would.

But first, we need to explore how we return None<T>

None<T>(IMsg) -> Option<T>

Where Some<T> wraps a value, None<T> is a null-safe way of representing no value, with a helpful reason why there is no value: some input was invalid, an exception occurred, and so on. Note that we _always_** need to give a reason for a None<T>** - another key principle in the world of Option<T>.

Let's dive right in!

var none = Divide(42, 0);
if (none is None<int> failed)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Something went wrong: {0}.", failed.Reason);
}

var some = Divide(42, 6);
if (some is Some<int> succeeded)
{
    Console.WriteLine("The result is: {0}.", succeeded.Value);
}

// Something went wrong: YouCannotDivideByZeroMsg { }.
// The result is: 7.

Option<int> Divide(int x, int y)
{
    if (y == 0)
    {
        return None<int>(new Msg.YouCannotDivideByZeroMsg());
    }

    return x / y;
}

public static class Msg
{
    public sealed record class YouCannotDivideByZeroMsg : IMsg { }
}

My pattern is for each class I write to have a Msg static class, which contains all the messages relating to that class. My practice is to implement my messages as record types - you don't have to do that, unless you want to use the built-in message types from the Jeebs NuGet package.

(If your message has a public parameterless constructor you can use the function None<T, IMsg>() -> Option<T> to create your None<T>.)

Jeebs.Option comes with two message interfaces: IMsg (which has no properties or methods) and IExceptionMsg (which has one property: the exception). We'll explore exception handling in the next section - but another way of writing the code block above would be like this:

var none = Divide(42, 0);
if (none is None<int> failed)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Something went wrong: {0}.", failed.Reason);
}

var some = Divide(42, 6);
if (some is Some<int> succeeded)
{
    Console.WriteLine("The result is: {0}.", succeeded.Value);
}

// Something went wrong: DivisionExceptionMsg { Exception = ... }.
// The result is: 7.

Option<int> Divide(int x, int y)
{
    try
    {
        return x / y;
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        return None<int>(new Msg.DivisionExceptionMsg(e));
    }
}

public static class Msg
{
    public sealed record class DivisionExceptionMsg(Exception Exception) : IExceptionMsg { }
}

Now we've seen IExceptionMsg we can turn to the other Return function, which takes a Func<T> instead of a T.

Some<T>(Func<T>, Handler) -> Option<T>

A key principle of Option<T> is that we always handle our exceptions. Therefore whenever we try to 'lift' a function instead of a value into the world of Option<T>, we need to catch things that go wrong.

This is where the delegate F.OptionF.Handler comes in, well, handy. Here is the definition of Handler:

public delegate IExceptionMsg Handler(Exception e);

It takes an Exception and returns an IExceptionMsg. The handler is used by Return<T>(Func<T>, Handler), which creates a None<T> and adds the reason message created by the handler.

So, this snippet does exactly what the Divide(int, int) -> Option<int> function did in the previous example, but without the try..catch block:

int number = 42;
Option<int> option = Some(
    () => number / 0,
    e => new Msg.DivisionExceptionMsg(e)
);

if (option is None<int> failed)
{
    Console.Write("Failed with {0}.", failed.Reason);
}

// Failed with Msg.DivisionExceptionMsg { Exception = ... }.

public static class Msg
{
    public sealed record class DivisionExceptionMsg(Exception Exception) : IExceptionMsg { }
}

Messages

Messages are a simple but incredibly powerful way of describing everything that can go wrong in your system. You could have your own namespace for them all, but I prefer to define the messages right next to the class that uses them.

To realise the true power of Messages, you need to be disciplined about never reusing them (or only rarely - I reuse mine only when I have two versions of the same function, for example sync / async).

This means:

  • when you log a None<T> with its Reason, you know exactly where the problem occurred

  • if you want to provide user feedback and translations, you can have specific error messages based on where the problem occurred

The messages we've used so far have been pretty simple, but here is an example of one from Jeebs.Data.Mapping:

public sealed record class UpdateErrorMsg<T>(string Method, long Id)
    : LogMsg(LogLevel.Warning, "{Method} {Id}")
{
    public override Func<object[]> Args =>
        () => new object[] { Method, Id };
}

This message captures various important pieces of information:

  • the type T is the type of the entity being updated

  • Method is the name of the update method

  • Id is the ID of the entity being updated

UpdateErrorMsg<T> extends the LogMsg abstract record from the Jeebs package to set the log level, and provide a custom log message using the update values. Then in the Update() function I can do something like this:

return rowsAffected switch
{
    1 =>
        True,

    _ =>
        None<bool>(new Msg.UpdateErrorMsg<T>(nameof(UpdateAsync), entity.Id))
}

True and False

In that last code snippet you may have True. That isn't a typo - there are two properties of F.OptionF:

  • F.OptionF.True which returns Some<bool> with Value true

  • F.OptionF.False which returns Some<bool> with Value false

They are identical to writing Some(true) or Some(false) - but I like the shorthands.

They exist because you don't want to return a None<bool> when something fails - you want to return a Some<bool> with a false value, so you can continue processing. This is what F.OptionF.False is for (or simply False if you have using static F.OptionF).

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