If / guard shorthand for optional unwrapping

[Nicholas_Maccharoli]

After writing many lines of:

if let foo = foo, bar = bar { .... }

and lines like:

guard let self = self else { ... }

it seems a little redundant to have to repeat the variable name twice when we want to simply unwrap the optional and use it by the same name.

What about this?

// If `foo` and `bar` are previously defined and reachable from this scope then this acts the same as `if let foo = foo, let bar = bar { ... }`
if let foo, let bar {
    ...
}

guard let self { ... }

If a new name should be assigned then that can also be done no different than it is now:

if myVar = foo { ... }

Just a thought, any feedback?

[toph42 (Topher Hickman)]

You might want to read this prior discussion of the same topic:

Let's fix `if let` syntax

Let me begin with saying that I agree with Chris Lattner: more readable code is the goal here. From https://forums.swift.org/t/if-let-shortcut-syntax/56: Right. “if let foo {“ is a frequently proposed extension to the syntax, but it is not one that we’re likely to ever add. I agree that this is a common pattern, and it would allow you to “write less code”, but that isn’t the goal of Swift. Since code is read more often than it is written, the real goal behind Swift is to let you write “more…

[MrAlirezaa (Alireza Asadi)]

In addition to Topher's answer, you may take a look at this document for the if let foo, let bar part.

[Nicholas_Maccharoli]

@toph42 @MrAlirezaa Thank you very much! When I went to look for prior discussions on the topic I missed that one.