Polymorphic functions

We have already used polymorphic functions when we played with Glass examples in the previous chapter:

sealed trait Glass[+Contents]
case class Full[Contents](c: Contents) extends Glass[Contents]
case object EmptyGlass extends Glass[Nothing]
case class Water(purity: Int)

def drink(glass: Glass[Water]): Unit = ???

scala> :type drink _
Glass[Water] => Unit

The drink method is monomorphic and thus can only be applied to the argument of the type Glass[Water], not even for an EmptyGlass. Of course, we don't want to implement a separate method for every possible type of content out there. Instead, we implement our functions in a polymorphic way:

def drinkAndRefill[C](glass: Glass[C]): Glass[C] = glass
drinkAndRefill: [C](glass: Glass[C])Glass[C]

scala> :type drinkAndRefill _
Glass[Nothing] => Glass[Nothing]

scala> :type drinkAndRefill[Water] _
Glass[Water] => Glass[Water]

The type parameter is available in the body of the method. In this case, we specify that the result should have the same type of content as the argument.

Of course, it is possible to further constrain type parameter as we did before:

def drinkAndRefillWater[B >: Water, C >: B](glass: Glass[B]): Glass[C] = glass

scala> :type drinkAndRefillWater[Water, Water] _
Glass[Water] => Glass[Water]

Here, our method accepts any glass as long as it is a glass of water and allows anything more specific than water to be filled in it.

Both examples also demonstrate that we can specify a type parameter during the partial application in order to have a monomorphic function of some specific type. Otherwise, the compiler applies the bottom type parameter the same way as it does when we define a polymorphic function using a function literal:

scala> def drinkFun[B] = (glass: Glass[B]) => glass
drinkFun: [B]=> Glass[B] => Glass[B]

scala> :type drinkFun
Glass[Nothing] => Glass[Nothing]

scala> drinkFun(Full(Water))
res17: Glass[Water.type] = Full(Water)

The inferred result type is correct at the moment of function application.