Forced non optional coalesce that behaves like a guard else nothing statement

[nicpro85 (Nicolas Manzini)]

What do you think about this:

let firstElement = list.first() !? return
let firstElement = list.first() !? break
let firstElement = list.first() !? continue

I know this is a common topic. It's just one more attempt at finding a shorthand for the famous guard let else empty return statement.

[nicpro85 (Nicolas Manzini)]

let firstElement = list.first() ?? "defaultValue"

let firstElement = list.first() !? return 

the second would be the same as

guard let firstElement = list.first() else {
     return
}

[xwu (Xiaodi Wu)]

Abbreviating guard...else with new syntax is a commonly rejected change. This particular suggestion hasn’t been listed in the document on such changes, but it would fall under the same umbrella as the others, I would think.

[mattpolzin (Mathew Polzin)]

On the other hand, see future directions at the end of the original post of this thread: Uninhabited Type (Never) Conversions

[EDIT] Note that the above linked thread is not an accepted direction for the language, it’s just a discussion.

Not sure I would want to be able to avoid guard statements where I’d otherwise be returning or continuing but the idea of throwing if nil coalescing fails is appealing to me.