- Proposal: SE-0108
- Authors: Douglas Gregor, Austin Zheng
- Review Manager: Chris Lattner
- Status: Rejected
- Decision Notes: Rationale
In Swift, a type T may choose to conform to a protocol P, where P has associated types that may be used in the protocol requirements. If the associated types are used in the requirements, the types that T chooses to bind those associated types to can currently be inferred by the type checker by examining how T chooses to implement P's requirements:
// This protocol is used in subsequent examples throughout the document.
protocol SimpleCollection {
associatedtype Element
func object(at index: Int) -> Element?
}
class StringBag : SimpleCollection {
func object(at index: Int) -> String? {
// ...
}
}In this example, the typechecker deduces that StringBag.Element is String through the way the object(at:) requirement is implemented.
In order to simplify the compiler and typechecker, we propose to remove associated type witness inference.
swift-evolution thread: pre-proposal
According to Completing Generics:
[...] associated type inference is the only place in Swift where we have a global type inference problem: it has historically been a major source of bugs, and implementing it fully and correctly requires a drastically different architecture to the type checker.
The main advantage of removing associated type witness inference is that it decreases the complexity of the type checker. Doing so removes the only aspect of Swift that depends upon global type inference. Simplifying the type checker makes it easier to improve the performance and correctness of the type checker code. Given that both are widely acknowledged issues with current versions of Swift, any opportunity for improvement should be carefully considered.
As Douglas Gregor (original author of the relevant type inference code) puts it:
Because this is the only place we do global type inference, it’s put tremendous pressure on the type checker that caused a huge number of bugs, crashes, and outright incomprehensible behavior. [...] [The re-implementation is] still not global enough to actually be predictable, and the legacy of this mis-feature manifests in a number of weird ways (e.g., typealiases in protocol extensions cannot be used to satisfy associated type requirements, weird rules for when a defaulted associated type gets used).
Associated type witness inference will be removed. A type implementing one or more protocols with associated types will have to explicitly spell out how those associated types are bound using one of the following methods.
A type may bind an associated type to a specific type using a typealias declaration, whether in the primary definition or retroactively through an extension:
class StringBag : SimpleCollection {
typealias Element = String
func object(at index: Int) -> String? { /* ... */ }
}A type may bind an associated type to a specific type by defining a nested type with the name of that associated type:
class FooBag : SimpleCollection {
struct Element { /* ... */ }
func object(at index: Int) -> Element? { /* ... */ }
}A type may adopt the default type specified for an associated type without any explicit annotation:
protocol P {
associatedtype A = Int
}
class C : P {
// C.A is Int
// ...
}Removing the associated type witness inference machinery will allow typealiases to be defined in protocol extensions, which can also be used to define default type values for associated types:
protocol P {
associatedtype A
associatedtype B
}
extension P where A : Fooable {
typealias B = Int
}
class C1 : P {
// C1.A is not Fooable
struct A { /* ... */ }
// Must bind 'C1.B' explicitly
typealias B = String
}
class C2 : P {
// C2.A is Fooable
struct A : Fooable { /* ... */ }
// 'C2.B' is implicitly Int
// No need for explicit binding
}There currently exists a possible issue where a requirement on a protocol might be implemented both by a protocol extension (default implementation), and by a conforming type, but the implementation considered by the compiler to fulfill the protocol requirement is surprising to the programmer. The following example illustrates this issue:
protocol P {
associatedtype A = Int
func doSomething() -> A
}
extension P {
func doSomething() -> Int {
return 50
}
}
class C : P {
func doSomething() -> String {
return "hello"
}
}
func myMethod<T : P>(_ x: T) -> T.A {
return x.doSomething()
}Currently, C.A for the previous example would be inferred to be String, and the doSomething() implementation returning String would be considered to fulfill the protocol requirement.
If associated type inference were to be removed, C.A would be bound as Int (since there would be no explicit typealias declaration overriding the default type value), and the doSomething() implementation returning Int would be considered to fulfill the protocol requirement. Thus, the semantics of the code listing above would change even though the source itself remained unchanged.
To some extent, this is an issue inherent to any design which makes no distinctions at the site of implementation between members intended to satisfy protocol requirements and members that are explicitly not intended to satisfy protocol requirements. Rather than adding keywords to create this distinction, Douglas Gregor has proposed and implemented type checker heuristics that will generate warnings when a programmer implements a member that "looks like" it should fulfill a protocol requirement but does not actually do so. This is one possible mitigation strategy that should be revisited as a way to decrease the possible impact of removing associated type witness inference from the compiler.
Swift source code containing types conforming to protocols with associated types will need to explicitly define their associated types using the syntax detailed in the proposal in some cases. This is a source-breaking change.
A couple of alternatives follow.
The current behavior is kept. Swift will continue to allow associated types to be inferred.
There are some advantages to this approach. Brevity is slightly improved. A type's associated types don't "stand out" in the type declaration, being unobtrusively and implicitly defined through the implementation of protocol requirements.
As well, Dave Abrahams expresses a potential issue:
Finally, I am very concerned that there are protocols such as
Collection, with many inferrable associated types, and that conforming to these protocols could become much uglier.
As with many proposals, there is a tradeoff between the status quo and the proposed behavior. As Completing Generics puts it,
Is the value of this feature worth keeping global type inference in the Swift language [...]?
An earlier draft of this proposal detailed a design in which types would explicitly bind their associated types using an associatedtype declaration. It is presented as an alternative for consideration.