nada

nada is Spanish for "nothing". It contains a small pythonic implementation of rust's Option and Result types.

In constrast to other similar python libraries, nada's Option and Result types are always just Unions with no additional wrapper for Some, Ok, or Err (although those can be used as well). Simply add IsSome or IsOk as base methods and enjoy your guardrails! This makes it slightly more pythonic and easier for those unfamiliar with functional programming to grasp the concepts.

Installation

pip install nada-types
uv add nada-types

Requires Python 3.12 or later.

Usage

Option Types

Option can be used with the IsSome base class or with the Some wrapper

from nada import Some, Nada, Option, IsSome, is_some, is_none
from dataclasses import dataclass

@dataclass
class User(IsSome):
    name: str

# The Option type is an alias for User | Nada
def find_user(user_id: int) -> Option[User]:
    if user_id == 1:
        return User("Alice")
    return Nada

# Type narrowing with guard functions
user = find_user(1)
if is_some(user):
    # Type checker knows this is User
    # Access User fields directly, no unwrapping needed
    print(user.name)

if is_none(user):
    print("User not found")  # Type checker knows this is NadaType

# Unwrapping values
name = Some("Alice").unwrap()           # Returns User("Alice")
name = Nada.unwrap_or("Unknown")        # Returns User("Unknown")
name = Some("Alice").expect("Missing")  # Returns User("Alice")

# Pattern matching
match find_user(1):
    case User(name=name):
        print(f"Found: {name}")
    case NadaType():
        print("Not found")

You can also use the Some wrapper for builtin or external types

from dataclasses import dataclass
from nada import Option, Nada, Some, is_some

def get_user(user_id: int) -> Option[Some[str]]:
    if user_id == 1:
        return Some("Alice")
    return Nada

user = get_user(1)
if is_some(user):
    print(user)  

Result Types

Use Result when an operation may fail. Create custom success and error types by inheriting from IsOk and IsErr:

from dataclasses import dataclass
from nada import Result, IsOk, IsErr, is_ok, is_err

@dataclass
class ParsedData(IsOk):
    value: dict

class ParseError(IsErr, Exception):
    def __init__(self, line: int, message: str):
        super().__init__(f"Line {line}: {message}")
        self.line = line

# The result type is an alias for ParsedData | ParseError
def parse(text: str) -> Result[ParsedData, ParseError]:
    if not text:
        return ParseError(line=0, message="Empty input")
    return ParsedData(value={"text": text})

# Type narrowing with guard functions
result = parse("")
if is_ok(result):
    print(result.value)  # Type checker knows this is ParsedData

if is_err(result):
    print(f"Error at line {result.line}")  # Type checker knows this is ParseError

# Pattern matching
match parse("hello"):
    case ParsedData(value=v):
        print(f"Result: {v}")
    case ParseError() as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")

You can also use the Ok and Err wrappers for builtin or external types:

from nada import Ok, Err, Result, is_ok, is_err

def divide(a: int, b: int) -> Result[Ok[float], Err[ZeroDivisionError]]:
    if b == 0:
        return Err(ZeroDivisionError("Cannot divide by zero"))
    return Ok(a / b)

result = divide(10, 2)
if is_ok(result):
    print(result.val)  # Type checker knows this is Ok[float]

if is_err(result):
    print(result.err)  # Type checker knows this is Err[ZeroDivisionError]

# Unwrapping values
value = Ok(42).unwrap()              # Returns 42
value = Err(ValueError()).unwrap_or(0)  # Returns 0

Type Narrowing with Properties

In addition to guard functions, you can use literal-typed properties with is True checks:

from nada import Some, Nada

value = Some(42)

if value.is_some is True:
    print(value.val)  # Type is narrowed

if value.is_none is True:
    print("No value")

API Reference

Option Types

Result Types

Type Guards

Common Methods

All Some, Ok, and Err types provide:

• unwrap() - Returns the inner value, raises if not present
• expect(msg) - Like unwrap() but with a custom error message
• unwrap_or(default) - Returns the inner value or the provided default

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.