Using type parameters in scala

Question

I'm attempting to convert a stack of Strings into a generic Stack .

Here is the Stack of String implementation :

class LinkedStackOfStrings {

  var first : Node = _

  def isEmpty : Boolean  = {
    first == null
  }

  def push(itemName : String) = {
    val oldFirst = first
    first = new Node(itemName , oldFirst)
  } 

  def pop = {
    first = first.next

    first.itemName

  }

}

  class Node(val itemName : String , val next : Node) {}

Here is my Stack of Generic types implementation :

class LinkedStackGeneric[T] {

  var first : NodeGeneric[T] = _

  def isEmpty : Boolean  = {
    first == null
  }

  def push(itemName : T) = {
    val oldFirst = first
    first = new NodeGeneric(itemName , oldFirst)
  } 

  def pop = {
    first = first.next

    first.itemName

  }

}

  class NodeGeneric[T](val itemName : T , val next : NodeGeneric[T]) {}

When I attempt to initialse my new generic class with data :

   val generic = new LinkedStackGeneric
   generic.push("test")

I receive this syntax error :

type mismatch; found : String("test") required: Nothing

What am I doing wrong ? Since I'm using a type parameter should I not be able to add data of any type including String to method 'push' ?

Answer 1

You can fix this issue by making the Stack object immutable:

object ImmutableStack {
  trait ImmutableStack[+A] {
    def isEmpty: Boolean
    def push[B >: A](item: B): ImmutableStack[B] = new <<(this, item)
    def pop: (ImmutableStack[A], Option[A])
    def <<[B >: A](item: B) = push(item)
  }
  case class <<[+A](init: ImmutableStack[A], last: A) extends ImmutableStack[A] {
    override def isEmpty = false
    override def pop: (ImmutableStack[A], Option[A]) = (init, Some(last))
    override def toString = "" + init + " << " + last
  }
  case object Nst extends ImmutableStack[Nothing] {
    override def isEmpty = true
    override def pop = (Nst, None)
    override def toString = "Nst"
  }
}

Then we have:

scala> import ImmutableStack._
import ImmutableStack._

scala> val intStack = Nst << 5 << 4 << 3 << 2 << 1
intStack: ImmutableStack.ImmutableStack[Int] = Nst << 5 << 4 << 3 << 2 << 1

scala> intStack.pop
res0: (ImmutableStack.ImmutableStack[Int], Option[Int]) = (Nst << 5 << 4 << 3 << 2,Some(1))

scala> val firstItems << lastItem = intStack
firstItems: ImmutableStack.ImmutableStack[Int] = Nst << 5 << 4 << 3 << 2
lastItem: Int = 1

scala> val strStack = Nst << "A" << "B" << "C"
strStack: ImmutableStack.ImmutableStack[String] = Nst << A << B << C

scala> val fs << lt = strStack
fs: ImmutableStack.ImmutableStack[String] = Nst << A << B
lt: String = C

scala> val anyStack = Nst << 1 << "Str" << 'Z'
anyStack: ImmutableStack.ImmutableStack[Any] = Nst << 1 << Str << Z


scala> val st << x1 << x2 << x3 = anyStack
st: ImmutableStack.ImmutableStack[Any] = Nst
x1: Any = 1
x2: Any = Str
x3: Any = Z