How can different types share data?

Question

type Animal
    = Dog DogData
    | Bird BirdData
    
type alias DogData =
    { name : String
    , runningSpeed : Float
    }
    
type alias BirdData =
    { name : String
    , wingSpan : Float
    }

{-| This function should work for all Animals
-}
getName {name} =
    name

Solution

Alternative Solution

Question

How can I write one function for all animals, that returns just the name.

Answer

Put the common data, in our case the name, all in one case and separate it from the differing data.

Further Reading

• 👥Thread: Passing accessors to functions