min/max of collections containing NaN (handling incomparability in ordering)

Question

I just ran into a nasty bug as a result of the following behavior:

scala> List(1.0, 2.0, 3.0, Double.NaN).min
res1: Double = NaN

scala> List(1.0, 2.0, 3.0         


        

Answer 1

What about bringing an implicit into scope that would allow you to have new min/max methods on the list.

Something like:

object NanAwareMinOrdering extends Ordering[Double] {
    def compare(x: Double, y: Double) = {
      if (x.isNaN()) {
        +1 // without checking x, return y < x
      } else if (y.isNaN()) {
        -1 // without checking y, return x < y
      } else {
        java.lang.Double.compare(x, y)
      }
    }
  }

object NanAwareMaxOrdering extends Ordering[Double] {
  ....
}

implicit class MinMaxList(list:List[Double]) {
  def min2 = list.min(NanAwareMinOrdering)
  def max2 = list.max(NanAwareMaxOrdering)
}

List(1.0, 2.0, 3.0, Double.NaN).min2