[swift-evolution] Proposal: Contiguous Variables (A.K.A. Fixed Sized Array Type)

[Dave Abrahams]

on Fri Jan 29 2016, Joe Groff <swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:

>> On Jan 29, 2016, at 1:11 PM, Dave Abrahams via swift-evolution <swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> on Thu Jan 28 2016, Chris Lattner <swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:
>> 
>
>>>> On Jan 28, 2016, at 9:41 PM, Félix Cloutier <felixcca at yahoo.ca> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> I think that (4 x Int) needs to be syntax sugar for (Int, Int, Int,
>>>> Int). Not having them the same would introduce awkward cases into
>>>> the language.
>>> 
>>> Agreed.  This means that:
>>> 
>>>   let values: (4 x Int)(repeatedValue: 0) // Is this possible?
>>> 
>>> will not be possible.
>> 
>> I think this avenue leaves some really crucial use-cases on the table,
>> e.g. implementing bounded-size dynamically-growable arrays.
>
> It doesn't foreclose on the future possibility, either. With integer
> generic parameters you could conceivably build something like that out
> of a primitive fixed-size tuple type.

I know, but I am not a fan of designing language features that are
clearly related to other things we definitely will want to do without
considering specifically how those other things fit into the picture.

-- 
-Dave