[swift-evolution] [Review] SE-0090: Remove .self and freely allow type references in expressions

[Brent Royal-Gordon]

> I thought about this, but { $0 } is already a fairly compact way to express the identity function.

It is, but I worry a bit about the core team's tendency to say "Oh, just use a closure" whenever something like this comes up. A function/method/property name can be merely *read*; a closure must be *interpreted*. And writing closures is error-prone—a slip of the keys and you've written `{ 0 }` or `{ 40 }` instead of `{ $0 }`, which look similar and (soon will) work in the same expressions but behave completely differently.

Naming operations is powerful; it helps you understand them better and it helps you avoid fat-fingering them.

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Brent Royal-Gordon
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