How can I call a static function on a protocol in a generic way?

Question

Is there a point to declaring a static function on a protocol? The client using the protocol has to call the function on a type conforming to the protocol anyway right? That breaks the idea of not having to know the type conforming to the protocol IMO. Is there a way to call the static function on the protocol in a way where I don't have to know the actual type conforming to my protocol?

Answer 1

Nice question. Here is my humble point of view:

Is there a point to declaring a static function on a protocol?

Pretty much the same as having instance methods declared in a protocol.

The client using the protocol has to call the function on a type conforming to the protocol anyway right?

Yes, exactly like instance functions.

That breaks the idea of not having to know the type conforming to the protocol IMO.

Nope. Look at the following code:

protocol Feline {
    var name: String { get }
    static func createRandomFeline() -> Feline
    init()
}

extension Feline {
    static func createRandomFeline() -> Feline {
        return arc4random_uniform(2) > 0 ? Tiger() : Leopard()
    }
}

class Tiger: Feline {
    let name = "Tiger"
    required init() {}
}

class Leopard: Feline {
    let name = "Leopard"
    required init() {}
}

let feline: Feline = arc4random_uniform(2) > 0 ? Tiger() : Leopard()
let anotherFeline = feline.dynamicType.createRandomFeline()

I don't know the real type inside the variable feline. I just know that it does conform to Feline. However I am invoking a static protocol method.

Is there a better way to do this?

I see, you would like to call a static method/function declared in a protocol without creating a value that conforms to the protocol.

Something like this:

Feline.createRandomFeline() // DANGER: compiler is not happy now

Honestly I don't know the reason why this is not possible.