extfn - Extension Functions in Rust

extfn is a Rust library that implements extension functions, allowing any* freestanding function to be called as a.foo(b) instead of foo(a, b) just by adding #[extfn] and renaming the first parameter to self.

use extfn::extfn;
use std::cmp::Ordering;
use std::fmt::Display;

#[extfn]
fn factorial(self: u64) -> u64 {
    (1..=self).product()
}

#[extfn]
fn string_len(self: impl Display) -> usize {
    format!("{self}").len()
}

#[extfn]
fn sorted_by<T: Ord, F>(mut self: Vec<T>, compare: F) -> Vec<T>
where
    F: FnMut(&T, &T) -> Ordering,
{
    self.sort_by(compare);
    self
}

fn main() {
    assert_eq!(6.factorial(), 720);
    assert_eq!(true.string_len(), 4);
    assert_eq!(vec![2, 1, 3].sorted_by(|a, b| b.cmp(a)), vec![3, 2, 1]);
}

Click here to expand macros

use extfn::extfn;
use std::cmp::Ordering;
use std::fmt::Display;

trait factorial {
    fn factorial(self) -> u64;
}
impl factorial for u64 {
    fn factorial(self) -> u64 {
        (1..=self).product()
    }
}

trait string_len<_T1> {
    fn string_len(self) -> usize
    where
        _T1: Display;
}
impl<_T1> string_len<_T1> for _T1 {
    fn string_len(self) -> usize
    where
        _T1: Display,
    {
        format!("{self}").len()
    }
}

trait sorted_by<T> {
    fn sorted_by<F>(self, dummy1: F) -> Vec<T>
    where
        F: FnMut(&T, &T) -> Ordering,
        T: Ord;
}
impl<T> sorted_by<T> for Vec<T> {
    fn sorted_by<F>(mut self, compare: F) -> Vec<T>
    where
        F: FnMut(&T, &T) -> Ordering,
        T: Ord,
    {
        self.sort_by(compare);
        self
    }
}

fn main() {
    assert_eq!(6.factorial(), 720);
    assert_eq!(true.string_len(), 4);
    assert_eq!(vec![2, 1, 3].sorted_by(|a, b| b.cmp(a)), vec![3, 2, 1]);
}

Supported Function Signatures

A list of all supported function signatures can be found in tests/signatures.rs. Nearly everything I could think of is supported, with a few exceptions (see Fine Print).

Please report any edge cases where the "extfn transform" (add #[extfn] and rename the first parameter to self) doesn't work.

Implementation Details

The #[extfn] macro essentially just converts a function into an extension trait with a single method.

This trait shares it's name with the extension function, allowing us to mark extension functions as pub and to import them just like regular functions using use example::add1;, maintaining the illusion:

mod example {
    use extfn::extfn;
    
    #[extfn]
    pub fn add1(self: usize) -> usize {
        self + 1
    }
}

use example::add1;

fn main() {
    assert_eq!(1.add1(), 2);
}

Prior Art

Extension functions are already implemented in other programming languages:

• Extension functions in Kotlin
• Extension methods in C#

As a Rust feature, extension functions have been proposed here, here, here, here.

Fine Print

• Const functions are unsupported because of E0379
• self: T::Assoc is unsupported