Let type = ... and type(of: ...)

Using Swift
1

I wrote:
let type = "_SomeService._tcp."
and all was fine.

A week later I tried to use:
let className = type(of: someThing)
and got a confusing error message about a String. (someThing was definitely not a String)

It took me quite a while to remember the "let type" line.
All became normal again when I changed this line to:
let serviceType = "_SomeService._tcp."

Should there be a compiler-warning like: "The name 'type' might clash with 'type(of:)'" ?

Gerriet.

2

When posting something like this, it's good to provide a reproducible example that's self contained and syntax-highlighted, like

let type = "some value"
let something = 1
let typeOfSomething = type(of: something) // ❌ error: cannot call value of non-function type 'String'

Also, className is an misleading and wrong name for the variable. It's storing a metatype object, not name (which would make people think it's a String; it's not).

3

Such clashes are possible with pretty much all standard library types, functions and methods. They can be disambiguated by explicitly qualifying the module name:

let type = "some value"	
let something = 1
let typeOfSomething = Swift.type(of: something) // => Int

You see this often when trying to use max in an array extension, where you inadvertently reference the instance method Array.max rather than the global function Swift.max.

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