Context: I want to be able to assign/init UInt32 values with four-character strings as in the file type/creator codes of the old days, or magic numbers used in some file formats.
I developed a function that works fine. It calls the max function to make sure to use at most 4 characters from the input string:
let length = max(asciiRepresentation.count, 4)
But this lines doesn't compile when put in an extension to UInt32:
extension UInt32 {
init(asciiRepresentation: String) {
let length = max(asciiRepresentation.count, 4)
var result: UInt32 = 0
var index = asciiRepresentation.startIndex
for _ in 0 ..< length {
let char = asciiRepresentation[index]
let byte: UInt32 = UInt32(char.asciiValue ?? 0)
result = result << 8 + byte
index = asciiRepresentation.index(after:index)
}
self = result
}
}
In my playground (Xcode 11.2.1):
error: CodingDecoding.playground:46:22: error: static member 'max' cannot be used on instance of type 'UInt32'
let length = max(asciiRepresentation.count, 4)
^~~
Self.
My understanding is that the global max function is hidden by the UInt32.max static member that represents the largest possible UInt32 number.
1- Is that correct?
2- Is there a way to call the global max function anyway?
Of course, I can work around that with an if statement easily.
Also feel free to comment on my code: I am a noob, and I guess this code could be written better. I would appreciate the learning experience.