More flexible arrays in Swift

There comes a time when you have to create an Array of objects which are of different types. A generic solution to this problem is to create an Array<AnyObject>

Array<AnyObject>

Array can accommodate almost everything into it. But wait..

Why do you need it?

Whenever there comes a need to create an array of anyobject, just consider redesigning the code instead. Why would you create a list of heterogenous type in the first place?

But if the list is somewhat similar then you can use Protocol oriented Programming for this.

Protocol Oriented Solution

Swift is focusing more on protocol oriented programming. So if you have to create an array of similar but not the same data types, then you can make all the similar types conform to a Protocol and create an array of the Protocol.

Here is the example

protocol Shape {
    var color: String { get set}
    func area() -> Double
}

struct Circle: Shape {
    var color: String
    var radius: Double
    func area() -> Double {
        return radius * radius * M_PI
    }
}

struct Square: Shape {
    var color: String
    var sideLength: Double
    func area() -> Double {
        return sideLength * sideLength
    }
}

var arr = [Shape]()
arr.append(Circle(color: "Red", radius: 10.0))
arr.append(Square(color: "Green", sideLength: 50))