Type Flexibility

Generics

Generics are like a blueprint that allows to use the same functionality for different data types. Practically it means that we can use the same node for different data types. These generic nodes are grayed out when we place them in the patch because they wait to receive the data type the should operate on.

To set the data type for the generic node we can double click on the node.

Generic Functions

If you want to create a generic function that can act on different data types as inputs you can use Operation.

To make an Operation generic you have to click on the square under the O of the operation. This allows to set the inner context of the operation by the inputs and outputs(outer context) of the operation.

Overloading

Overloading is another concept of type flexibility. It allows to have the same name for operations as along as they have different signatures. A signature is a unique identifier of that operation which includes:

In this context, signature refers to the unique identifier of a method, which includes: - Method name - Number of parameters - Types of parameters - Order of parameters

Different pin names don't result to a unique identifier

Type Switch

If you have a certain range of types and you want to convert them to a specific type you can use TypeSwitch node. Inside of the region you can't use generic types without giving the input and output a specific type. To be able to connect input and output you need to define there type. You also need to assign the node that you want to use between them to a matching function - right click on node and assign to Match Func.

The Type Switch only takes object types only.

Internally the TypeSwitch runs similar as CastAsif blocks. It tries to cast something as float then if that wasn't successful it tries to cast it as the next type.

Upcasting

Upcasting is when you want to convert from a sub data type to a super datatype. This is only possible in Sequence in VVVV. It doesn't work for Spread or value types like float or integer.

In some cases the compiler finds a way to cast a type to another. A work around is to use a ForEach loop and just pipe it through it and then connect it to a Spread of the other type.