[swift-evolution] [Pitch] Remove type-inference for stored property

[Víctor Pimentel Rodríguez]

On Friday, April 7, 2017, Daniel Duan via swift-evolution <
swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> In a discussion about inferring parameter types from default value, Slava
> brought up some performance problems caused by type inference for stored
> properties in side types:
>
> https://lists.swift.org/pipermail/swift-evolution/
> Week-of-Mon-20170313/033882.html
>
> Towards the end, the post mentioned that some Swift team members
> contemplated requiring types for stored properties in type declarations. I
> think this idea deserves some more attention. Hence this last minute
> idea-floating.
>
> In addition to solving a performance headache in implementation, there're
> always the general benefit of making type declartion more explicit and
> readable (clarity for reader should out-weigh pleasure of the author).
> Making the
> language slightly more consistent (we are not inferring types for default
> parameter values in function anyways).
>
> The cons for doing this are obvious too: the inference makes the language
> feels more friendly and is, undoubtedly, a beloved feature for many. This
> would be a source breaking change.
>
> Just thought I'd float the idea to gather some quick reaction. What do
> y'all think?
>

I think this chabge would be too source breaking for Swift 4. Just for that
reason I would not implement it.

Also, I think the Core team talked about having specific themes for the
upcoming releases. I would very much like Swift 5 to have improving compile
times as a major theme.

Under such theme, maybe it makes sense to forbid complex expressions
in stored properties definitions with no explicit type. Forbidding literals
or direct function calls would remove a useful feature and the gains would
not be much, IMHO.

--
Víctor Pimentel

-- 

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*Víctor Pimentel Rodríguez · *Principal iOS Engineer
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