Keyword/enum conversion using IntoValue and FromValue

[vklquevs]

I've been thinking about treating keywords as enum values, e.g.
enum Foo { Bar, Baz } <=> :Bar and :Baz, which would be nicely derive-able.
However, a Keyword value requires a NameStore to find its string value, which means you can't IntoValue or FromValue it.

I can think of a couple of ways around this:

• Add a Scope argument to conversion functions, so they can do a lookup if necessary
• Change keywords to Keyword(String) in the Value enum, or add Symbol(String), to make self-representing keywords or symbols, as with similar parenthesized languages
• Make string<->keyword conversion functions (which might be useful anyway!) that can be added in automatically by interop macros.

I'd be happy to dive in and make a PR, but each of these has trade-offs! Also, is there a better way I've not thought of?

[EDIT] Or a new EnumValue trait similar to StructValue, but I'm not sure what kind of machinery would need to go in there.

[murarth]

What you're describing sounds like the value_encode module, which is enabled when you build using the serde feature. Any type implementing serde's Serialize/Deserialize traits can be converted to/from a Ketos value.

The test file shows the Ketos representation of enum values.

Is this applicable to your use case?

[vklquevs]

Hey, that's neat!
I did have a more terse solution in mind, but on meditation I realized I'd have to write some glue in Ketos anyway, meaning I can just do the conversion myself. Plus, what I was describing would only really be applicable to a small subset of enum types (those without arguments), so it's not all that useful anyway.

Thanks for pointing me to that though - I can definitely use it, and sorry for the noise :)

[murarth]

No need to be sorry. Glad I could help.