Swift Language Protocols Implementing Hashable protocol
Example
Types used in Sets and Dictionaries(key) must conform to Hashable protocol which inherits from Equatable protocol.
Custom type conforming to Hashable protocol must implement
- A calculated property
hashValue - Define one of the equality operators i.e.
==or!=.
Following example implements Hashable protocol for a custom struct:
struct Cell {
var row: Int
var col: Int
init(_ row: Int, _ col: Int) {
self.row = row
self.col = col
}
}
extension Cell: Hashable {
// Satisfy Hashable requirement
var hashValue: Int {
get {
return row.hashValue^col.hashValue
}
}
// Satisfy Equatable requirement
static func ==(lhs: Cell, rhs: Cell) -> Bool {
return lhs.col == rhs.col && lhs.row == rhs.row
}
}
// Now we can make Cell as key of dictonary
var dict = [Cell : String]()
dict[Cell(0, 0)] = "0, 0"
dict[Cell(1, 0)] = "1, 0"
dict[Cell(0, 1)] = "0, 1"
// Also we can create Set of Cells
var set = Set<Cell>()
set.insert(Cell(0, 0))
set.insert(Cell(1, 0))
Note: It is not necessary that different values in custom type have different hash values, collisions are acceptable. If hash values are equal, equality operator will be used to determine real equality.
