[swift-evolution] Symmetrical operators

[Haravikk]

I'm a +1 on the feature, though for simply handling symmetry it's not a super critical issue.


I wonder though, when you start looking at symmetry is it worth looking at other patterns? For example, could symmetrical operators be covered by a broader multi-part operator definition?

I was thinking recently it would be convenient if I could define say a 3-dimensional point like so: <x, y, z>

In this case you're looking at a symmetric operator with two different components (opening and closing angle brackets) with the ability to take three arguments. Is there a way we could define and implement something along these lines? If so it would be very flexible, and potential allow us to unify all operators into a single format.

For example, you can thing of a prefix operator as being a leading symbol plus one argument, while a postfix is one argument plus a trailing symbol, a binary operator is an argument, a symbol and another argument, a symmetric operator is a leading symbol, an argument and a trailing symbol (doesn't have to be identical).

If we had a means of specifying operators in this way (as a complete pattern) we could do away with special cases of operators entirely, though they may be worth keeping for compatibility and as a shorthand.

> On 14 Nov 2016, at 09:57, Dimitri Racordon via swift-evolution <swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:
> 
> +1
> 
> I think the use cases are not that sparse actually.
> I would also argue that it would be easier to understand the intent of the code with some sort of keyword than with a hard copy of each function.
> 
> 
> 
>> On 14 Nov 2016, at 10:51, Anton Zhilin via swift-evolution <swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:
>> 
>> -1
>> Not worth adding syntactic sugar for a narrow use case. Plus it's an additive feature.
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