六、Julia多重派发

这一节我们要讲Julia的一个重要特性——多重派发（multiple dispatch）。

为了更好理解Julia中的多重派发，可以来看看Julia+运算符。通过对+调用methods()函数，可以看出Juila中已经有多少关于+运算符的定义。

methods(+)

184 methods for generic function +:

• +(x::Dates.CompoundPeriod, y::Dates.CompoundPeriod) in Dates at /opt/apps/julia/share/julia/stdlib/v1.5/Dates/src/periods.jl:347
• +(x::Dates.CompoundPeriod, y::Dates.Period) in Dates at /opt/apps/julia/share/julia/stdlib/v1.5/Dates/src/periods.jl:345

​ ...

• +(J::LinearAlgebra.UniformScaling, F::LinearAlgebra.Hessenberg) in LinearAlgebra at /opt/apps/julia/share/julia/stdlib/v1.5/LinearAlgebra/src/hessenberg.jl:560
• +(a, b, c, xs...) in Base at operators.jl:538

可以使用which宏查看我们在使用+运算符时到底使用了哪个方法。

@which 3 + 3

@which 3 + 3.0

+(x::Number, y::Number) in Base at promotion.jl:311

@which 3.0 + 3.0

+(x::Float64, y::Float64) in Base at float.jl:401

此外，我们也可以为+扩展新的方法。

首先需要从Base库导入+

import Base: +

比如我们想用+串联字符串。+原本是没有这个功能的。

"hello " + "world!"

MethodError: no method matching +(::String, ::String)
Closest candidates are:
+(::Any, ::Any, !Matched::Any, !Matched::Any…) at operators.jl:538

Stacktrace:

[1] top-level scope at In[10]:1

[2] include_string(::Function, ::Module, ::String, ::String) at ./loading.jl:1091

[3] execute_code(::String, ::String) at /home/lupeng/.julia/packages/IJulia/a1SNk/src/execute_request.jl:27

[4] execute_request(::ZMQ.Socket, ::IJulia.Msg) at /home/lupeng/.julia/packages/IJulia/a1SNk/src/execute_request.jl:86

[5] #invokelatest#1 at ./essentials.jl:710 [inlined]

[6] invokelatest at ./essentials.jl:709 [inlined]

[7] eventloop(::ZMQ.Socket) at /home/lupeng/.julia/packages/IJulia/a1SNk/src/eventloop.jl:8

[8] (::IJulia.var"#15#18")() at ./task.jl:356

@which "hello " + "world!"

no unique matching method found for the specified argument types

Stacktrace:

[1] error(::String) at ./error.jl:33

[2] which(::Any, ::Any) at ./reflection.jl:1158

[3] top-level scope at In[11]:1

[4] include_string(::Function, ::Module, ::String, ::String) at ./loading.jl:1091

[5] execute_code(::String, ::String) at /home/lupeng/.julia/packages/IJulia/a1SNk/src/execute_request.jl:27

[6] execute_request(::ZMQ.Socket, ::IJulia.Msg) at /home/lupeng/.julia/packages/IJulia/a1SNk/src/execute_request.jl:86

[7] #invokelatest#1 at ./essentials.jl:710 [inlined]

[8] invokelatest at ./essentials.jl:709 [inlined]

[9] eventloop(::ZMQ.Socket) at /home/lupeng/.julia/packages/IJulia/a1SNk/src/eventloop.jl:8

[10] (::IJulia.var"#15#18")() at ./task.jl:356

现在我们来为+添加串联字符串的功能。

+(x::String, y::String) = string(x, y)

• (generic function with 185 methods)

"hello " + "world!"

“hello world!”

@which "hello " + "world!"

+(x::String, y::String) in Main at In[13]:1

再看一个例子

foo(x, y) = println("duck-typed foo!")
foo(x::Int, y::Float64) = println("foo with an integer and a float!")
foo(x::Float64, y::Float64) = println("foo with two floats!")
foo(x::Int, y::Int) = println("foo with two integers!")

foo (generic function with 4 methods)

foo(1, 1)

foo with two integers!

foo(1., 1.)

foo with two floats!

foo(1, 1.0)

foo with an integer and a float!

foo(true, false)

duck-typed foo!