tlist.md

tlist

-- like list but with runtime type safety

Purpose - What am I solving?

The tlist class is designed to provide runtime type safety for lists while also being applicable for static typing analasis. It ensures that the elements stored in the list are of a specific type specified during initialization.

Features

• Allows runtime type checking for list elements.
• Supports instantiation with a specific type using tlist[type].
• Implements all the basic list operations like append, extend, __setitem__, __add__, __mul__, etc.
• Provides custom string representation using __str__ and __repr__ methods.
• Implements comparison operations like __eq__.
• Supports iteration over the elements of the list.
• Provides a convenient way to create a new tlist by extending an existing tlist or a regular list.
• Supports multiplying a tlist by an integer to create a new tlist with repeated elements.

In summary, tlist enhances the functionality of the built-in list class by adding runtime type safety, ensuring that the list only contains elements of a specific type.

Usage

Behind the scenes, runtime type validation is happening on all of the modifying functions

# Create a tlist of integers
my_list = tlist[int]()

# Append elements to the list
my_list.append(10)
my_list.append(20)
my_list.append(30)

# Extend the list from another tlist or list
other_list = tlist[int]([40, 50, 60])
my_list.extend(other_list)

# Perform list operations
print(my_list)  # Output: tlist [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60]
print(my_list[2])  # Output: 30
my_list[1] = 25
print(my_list)  # Output: tlist [10, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60]

# Multiply the list to create a new tlist with repeated elements
new_list = my_list * 3
print(new_list)  # Output: tlist [10, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 10, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 10, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60]

# Compare tlists
print(new_list == my_list)  # Output: False
print(new_list == my_list * 3)  # Output: True