[swift-dev] [Discuss] Remove SwiftExperimental

[Dave Abrahams]

on Wed Jul 19 2017, Michael Ilseman <swift-dev-AT-swift.org> wrote:

> CC Dave/Max. Is there any current value to this library? 

There's plenty of value in there, but none that justifies keeping it in
the standard library.  Someone should spin off the contents to one or
more SwiftPM projects.

> Is there anything in there that would be useful to migrate to another
> place like test/Prototypes?

The main value of keeping things in test/Prototypes is that they reveal
compiler breakage that would prevent us from actually landing things in
the library once they've gone through -evolution.  An important part of
this is that they keep the compiler from breaking new library features
that are under development.  I don't think there's anything in
experimental that's directly related to current development goals, but
there might still be something of interest as a regression test.
Someone needs to look at the code and make a determination.  I don't
have an opinion offhand.

>> On Jul 19, 2017, at 1:23 PM, Robert Widmann via swift-dev <swift-dev at swift.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hello all,
>> 
>> The SwiftExperimental
>> <https://github.com/apple/swift/blob/master/stdlib/internal/SwiftExperimental/SwiftExperimental.swift>
>> library’s stated purpose is to be a place where experimental library
>> features could be explored without fear of committing to a stable
>> interface.  At least, that was its goal many years ago when
>> significant work on it was last done.  Since then, SwiftExperimental
>> has sat untouched except for passing committers that need to alter
>> parts of its implementation for language changes.
>> 
>> I would like to remove this library and target from the project, but
>> first I’d like to solicit opinions about this change.  In
>> particular, if there are any users of the library, I’d like to know.
>> I’d also like to know if there would be any interest in reviving a
>> project like this in a different form - ideally out of tree.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> ~Robert Widmann
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-- 
-Dave