is / as functions

[FlorianRappl]

I will introduce two handy functions: is() and as(). The first one checks if a given value is from a given type.

Examples:

is("String", "Test string") // true
is("Number", true) // false
is_bool = is("Boolean"); is_bool(14 ~= 7) // true

As the helpers (e.g., is_bool) are trivial to create on the fly (using currying) these won't be provided.

Similarly, there will be the as function, which is a defined way to do type casts.

Examples:

as("String", 3.5) // "3.5"
as("Matrix", true) // [1]
as("String", null) // ""

If a cast fails the result is of type "Undefined" (.NET null).