Apache Thrift Struct for better readability

I just started working with thrift and created following thrift interface.

map<string, map<string, string>> getInformationByIds(1: set<string> Ids)

As you can see, the return type is a map of maps. I want to know wether I can improve the readability by creating a custom thrift structure. Any direction is appreciated.

Although I have trouble relating this to readability only, I can give a generic advice that might also solve that question for you.

Use a struct as return value

Service methods are (currently) designed in a way most programming languages¹⁾ use the concept of a callable function: Although it allows for handing over 0-N arguments, you are still limited to a maximum of one return value only ²⁾:

RETVAL  function( ARG1, ARG2, ..., ARGN) throws (...)

So using as struct as a return value in your service methods turns out to be a quite clever approach. In fact, it solves four problems at once:

• not limited to 1 return value anymore: add as many fields as you need
• extendable: you can add more fields in the future without breaking it
• readability: separating method and retval gives you cleaner code
• reusability: easily possible to use the same return structure for multiple methods

How cool is that?

_{1) e.g. Golang is a notable exception.}

_{2) We are not counting exceptions here, only normal data.}