Dispatching

Dispatching, part of the ARGBOX suite, provides tools for implementing function dispatching patterns in code. It addresses the need to redirect function calls to specific implementations based on input argument validation, offering an alternative to complex if-else structures. The tool supports a range of function definition and calling patterns, including positional arguments, keyword arguments, as well as both fixed and variable numbers of arguments.

Among its features are built-in dispatchers for common use cases. One built-in dispatcher allows dispatching based on the type of input arguments, enabling different implementations to be registered and invoked depending on argument types. Another built-in dispatcher supports dispatching based on rules—specifically, boolean-valued functions that evaluate input arguments, so that different function implementations can be selected according to custom validation logic.

For more advanced scenarios, Dispatching allows users to create their own custom dispatchers. This is achieved using a dispatcher decorator and defining a validator function, which determines which implementation to use based on the provided arguments. The process involves decorating a function with the custom dispatcher and registering different implementations, each associated with a specific validation condition.