Protocols are a mechanism to achieve polymorphism in Elixir when you want behavior to vary depending on the data type.
Protocols are defined using defprotocol
and contain one or more function headers.
defprotocol Reversible do
def reverse(term)
end
Protocols can be implemented using defimpl
.
defimpl Reversible, for: List do
def reverse(term) do
Enum.reverse(term)
end
end
A protocol can be implemented for any existing Elixir data type or for a struct.
When a protocol function is invoked, the appropriate implementation gets automatically chosen based on the type of the first argument.
You're developing your own role-playing video game. In your game, there are characters and items. One of the many actions that you can do with an item is to make a character eat it.
Not all items are edible, and not all edible items have the same effects on the character. Some items, when eaten, turn into a different item (e.g. if you eat an apple, you are left with an apple core).
To allow for all that flexibility, you decided to create an Edible
protocol that some of the items can implement.
Create the RPG.Edible
protocol. The protocol has one function - eat
. The eat
function accepts an item and a character and returns a by-product and a character.
Implement the RPG.Edible
protocol for the RPG.LoafOfBread
item. When eaten, a loaf of bread gives the character 5 health points and has no by-product.
RPG.Edible.eat(%RPG.LoafOfBread{}, %RPG.Character{health: 31})
# => {nil, %RPG.Character{health: 36, mana: 0}}
Implement the RPG.Edible
protocol for the RPG.ManaPotion
item. When eaten, a mana potion gives the character as many mana points as the potion's strength, and produces an empty bottle.
RPG.Edible.eat(%RPG.ManaPotion{strength: 13}, %RPG.Character{mana: 50})
# => {%RPG.EmptyBottle{}, %RPG.Character{health: 100, mana: 63}}
Implement the RPG.Edible
protocol for the RPG.Poison
item. When eaten, a poison takes away all the health points from the character, and produces an empty bottle.
RPG.Edible.eat(%RPG.Poison{}, %RPG.Character{health: 3000})
# => {%RPG.EmptyBottle{}, %RPG.Character{health: 0, mana: 0}}
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