path: root/notes/avoiding_builtins.txt

Is it possible to avoid builtin types entirely?
That is, have only plain old classes / all types are classes.

Problems to solve:

* Identity-less vs "undecided" vs identity-full types:
    - Bool, Int, String, and "value types" are identity-less.
    - Objects that do I/O of some kind are identity-full.
    - Whether a type is identity-less or identity-full affects API, so it could
      make sense to have "undecided" as the default. Types in undecided mode
      wouldn't have `==` or `<>` defined, and at the ABI level they would
      only allow operations that are allowed on both (so no stack allocation
      for example).
* Enumerations:
    - `Bool` can be a closed enum of `True` and `False`
* Integers:
    - Integers could be a special integral/numeric/range/etc. type with a
      defined minimum and maximum value.

Related problem: Comparing unknown objects
------------------------------------------

This could happen in generic types, for example with a "Key" type of a HashMap
or similar. Perhaps it is better to just ignore this and skip supporting it?
It adds a lot of complexity for what seems to be quite limited value.

Could have IntMap, StringMap, etc.

Or could pass (limited?) runtime type information to generic functions/types?
And maybe store it in generic types?
Or some implicit parameter in the constructor, and explicit storage in some
instance variables? Perhaps a `TypeInfo T` type?

Or could have a type parameter that is restricted to a known set of types,
have specialized classes: List_String.slul, List_Int.slul, ListAnyInt32.slul
(this will make it impossible to set the key parameter to another parameter,
such as `Map K String` unfortunately).

    class Map K V
    typeparam K
        String
        Int
        Any8
        Any16
        Any32
        Any64
    typeparam V

or:

    class Map K V
    typebound K
        String
        Int
        Any8
        Any16
        Any32
        Any64

The default typebound should probably be the union of any reference type and
Any64? That could be called `Any64OrRef`.
Or in the bootstrap subset: `Any32OrRef`.

Syntax test for enums and integers
----------------------------------

Enumeration:

    class Bool
    enum
        False
        True
    end

Integer:

    class Int
    # find some keyword that doesn't that doens't start with `int`
    integral
        min 0
        max 2^31-1
    end
    numeric
        min 0
        max 2^31-1
    end
    range
        min 0
        max 2^31-1
    end

Syntax test for identity-less vs identity-full types
----------------------------------------------------

Should it be a "block" with (or without) `end` or not?

    # Syntax 1 (for implementation files?)
    class Point

    value
        int x
        int y
    end

    # Syntax 2 (for interface files?)
    class Point

    value
        int x
        int y

    # Syntax 3 (could work in both)
    class Point
    value

    int x
    int y

Which keywords to use for identity-less/full/undecided?
-------------------------------------------------------

See also `class_kinds_keywords.txt`

It could use the words in the header, or words that describe whether the
type is comparible / has an `==` operator, or some completely different word.

* For identity-less types?
    value
    struct
    record
    data
* For undecided types?
    - Should it be the default? (And not have a keyword)
* For identity-full types?
    identity
    properties
    state

Syntax test of just defining whether operator `==` is defined
(best solution?)

    class Point
    operator `==`   # default implementation
    ...

    class File
    has_identity
    ...

    class Undecided
    ...


Perhaps have a `storage` keyword?
---------------------------------

    class Point
    storage value
        int x
        int y
    end

    class Bool
    storage enum
        False
        True
    end

    class Int
    storage number
        min 0
        max 2^31-1
    end

    class Float
    storage number
        float 32
    end

    class File
    storage unique
        int fd
    end

    class Undecided
    storage
        int x
    end

An observation:

Private types can only be reference types!
- But there are still internal-only types (not exposed in interface file).

Merge immutable objects and enums?
----------------------------------

Enums could be implemented similar to singleton objects, except that they
would still be identified by their ordinal/enum number:

    class SomeEnum

    # May not have modifiable/mutable fields and field types!
    int x
    bool b

    # This restricts the set of values
    enum
        ValueA = new  1 True
        ValueB = new  0 False
        ValueB = new  2 True
    end

This could be implemented as an integer + an array of constant structs
with the values (1,True), (0,False) and (2,True) as above.
On platforms where it is inefficient to access global const data (`.rodata`),
the structs could be accessed via a function. In C style code it could be:

    struct SomeEnum__struct {
        unsigned x;
        bool b;
    };
    void SomeEnum__getstruct(unsigned enumvalue, struct SomeEnum__struct *out);

Example without any associated structure:

    class Bool

    enum
        False
        True
    end

The constructor calls (`= new ...`) should only appear in implementation files,
never in interface files.


Unifying Enum, NumericRange, service types, value types and refererence types?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Service type specifications also appear at the start of a class, just like
an integer-range or enum would. Could these two be unified? Would it make
sense?

Enum example:

    is Enum
        ValueA
        ValueB

Integer example:

    is NumericRange
        min = 0
        max = 255

Service type example:

    is CommandMain "test"
        File outfile = input_file "-o"
        Int counter! = 0

Class of value type:

    is Value
        Int x
        Int y

Class of reference type:

    is Unique
        Int filedescriptor
        Int position
        FileMode filemode