Question

I have a method to compare two byte arrays. The code is java-style, and there are many “if-else”s.

def assertArray(b1: Array[Byte], b2: Array[Byte]) {
  if (b1 == null && b2 == null) return;
  else if (b1 != null && b2 != null) {
    if (b1.length != b2.length) throw new AssertionError("b1.length != b2.length")
    else {
      for (i <- b1.indices) {
        if (b1(i) != b2(i)) throw new AssertionError("b1(%d) != b2(%d)".format(i, i))
      }
    }
  } else {
    throw new AssertionError("b1 is null while b2 is not, vice versa")
  }
}

I have tried as following, but it’s not simplified the code much:

(Option(b1), Option(b2)) match {
    case (Some(b1), Some(b2)) => if ( b1.length == b2.length ) {
       for (i <- b1.indices) {
        if (b1(i) != b2(i)) throw new AssertionError("b1(%d) != b2(%d)".format(i, i))
       }
    } else {
       throw new AssertionError("b1.length != b2.length")
    }
    case (None, None) => _
    case _ => throw new AssertionError("b1 is null while b2 is not, vice versa")
}

Answer 1

Unless you’re doing this as an academic exercise, how about

java.util.Arrays.equals(b1, b2)

The description:

Returns true if the two specified arrays of bytes are equal to one
another. Two arrays are considered equal if both arrays contain the
same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in
the two arrays are equal. In other words, two arrays are equal if they
contain the same elements in the same order. Also, two array
references are considered equal if both are null.

I will admit to this being ‘java style’ 🙂

Since you’re throwing AssertionErrors, you can remove all of the else’s:

def assertArray(b1: Array[Byte], b2: Array[Byte]): Unit = {
  if (b1 == b2) return;

  if (b1 == null || b2 == null) throw new AssertionError("b1 is null while b2 is not, vice versa")  

  if (b1.length != b2.length) throw new AssertionError("b1.length != b2.length")

  for (i <- b1.indices) {
    if (b1(i) != b2(i)) throw new AssertionError("b1(%d) != b2(%d)".format(i, i))
  }
}

If, as I suspect, you’re actually using this within JUnit tests (hence the assertArray), then you can use a trick which I often do, compare the string representations of the arrays:

def assertArray2(b1: Array[Byte], b2: Array[Byte]): Unit = {
  assertEquals(toString(b1), toString(b2))
}

def toString(b: Array[Byte]) = if (b == null) "null" else java.util.Arrays.asList(b:_*).toString

which will give you the same outcome (an AssertionError), with where the differences are.