A union is a variable that is defined by the user to hold members of different types and sizes. They use a single memory location to hold two or more variables. Unions can be used in different locations including sharing single memory for two different variables separately when the memory is no longer needed for the first variable, if one wants to shorten one long variable into two major variables and if one is not sure of what type of data to pass to a function and so they pass a union which contains all kinds of data types. This paper looks at different programming languages of handling a union, namely in C++ and F#.
A union holds a singular piece of data in different occasions depending on the data variable needed. For example, if a user has two variables, V1 and V2 and they are using V1 at the moment, the union will hold V1. However, should the user need to use V2, the same union can discard V1 and use V2 for the user. When using a union in C++, the user can create a structure. This is a convenient method of handling related data items. Complex data can be organized in a convenient way. For example, the elements of a book can be organized to include the author, date, year and publisher.
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Unions in F# signify values known as discriminated unions. These unions provide adequate support for various values that could be a number of named cases. Each case could have a different value and be of a different type. Discriminated unions make consideration for data with a wide range of cases, including error cases. In the same vein, data that varies in type from one instance to another and small object hierarchies are specially used by discriminated unions.
Remarks
While discriminated unions are similar to unions in C++ and other programming languages, there are certain differences. For example, data stored in a C++ union is not fixed, as much as it is not fixed in the case of union types in F#. Data can be presented in distinct alternatives. However, data unions in F# are given unique case identifiers. These are names for the possible values that the data type could be, although the values are optional. Where a value is not present, the data is taken to be a numerical value. If the value is present, it could be a single value or specified types. Moreover, field names are optional even when other fields in the same case are mentioned. Discriminated unions can be used in a series of various instances including in the case of tree data structures and object hierarchies, diversifying the ability to use the F# programming language.
