// // With tagged unions, it gets EVEN BETTER! If you don't have a // need for a separate enum, you can define an inferred enum with // your union all in one place. Just use the 'enum' keyword in // place of the tag type: // // const Foo = union(enum) { // small: u8, // medium: u32, // large: u64, // }; // // Let's convert Insect. Doctor Zoraptera has already deleted the // explicit InsectStat enum for you! // const std = @import("std"); const Insect = union(InsectStat) { flowers_visited: u16, still_alive: bool, }; pub fn main() void { var ant = Insect{ .still_alive = true }; var bee = Insect{ .flowers_visited = 17 }; std.debug.print("Insect report! ", .{}); printInsect(ant); printInsect(bee); std.debug.print("\n", .{}); } fn printInsect(insect: Insect) void { switch (insect) { .still_alive => |a| std.debug.print("Ant alive is: {}. ", .{a}), .flowers_visited => |f| std.debug.print("Bee visited {} flowers. ", .{f}), } } // Inferred enums are neat, representing the tip of the iceberg // in the relationship between enums and unions. You can actually // coerce a union TO an enum (which gives you the active field // from the union as an enum). What's even wilder is that you can // coerce an enum to a union! But don't get too excited, that // only works when the union type is one of those weird zero-bit // types like void! // // Tagged unions, as with most ideas in computer science, have a // long history going back to the 1960s. However, they're only // recently becoming mainstream, particularly in system-level // programming languages. You might have also seen them called // "variants", "sum types", or even "enums"!