minhajuddin
Using List.first instead of Enum.at(0)
I have seen a lot of code which picks the first element from a list using Enum.at(0) instead of List.first. Is there a reason why people use Enum.at(0)? List.first seems like the simpler of the two.
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First Post!
alexgaribay
The docs for the
Listmodule states it works only on lists whereas theEnummodule works on anything that implements theEnumerableprotocol. Additionally, theListmodule docs recommends using theEnummodule.This comes directly from the
Listdocs:I’d probably go with using
Enumin general. I have never found myself reaching for an API available inListin the past year of my Elixir development.Most Liked
benwilson512
FWIW I literally never use
Enum.at. Lists are the only thing I end up using on a regularly basis where “first” actually means something. That is, I’m not sure why I would ever callEnum.at(0)on a map. Given that looking at a list,List.firstis just more semantically clear.rkma
The difference is that, for an empty list,
List.first/1andEnum.at/2will returnnilandhdand pattern matching will raise an error.benwilson512
There’s a big difference between
hdandList.firsthowever.[] |> hdblows up.[] |> List.firstisnil. I almost never usehdbecause I can generally just pattern match when I expect there will be one thing.List.firstis handy when I either want the first thing or nil if there isn’t any.Last Post!
dkuku
only Enum.at(0) works with Streams