[swift-evolution] [Review] SE 0192 - Non-Exhaustive Enums

[Jason Merchant]

I think this whole thing has been unnecessarily convoluted. As a result,
the majority of the replies are rabbit holes.

In my opinion, the true root of the concept in question is as follows:

*A list of something is desired:*
1 - Pancake
2 - Waffle
3 - Juice

*Developer wishes to be able to:*
*A)* Add new things to the list of choices in the future as they come up
with new ideas
*B)* Sometimes select one of the choices to be chosen as the normal choice
if no choice is made by the user

A and B are *separate desires*. In some circumstances a developer may want
to add a new choice and make it the normal choice when there was no normal
choice was clarified before.

____________________

*Part 2:*

After this simple desire is clear, there should be two discussions:
*A)* In a text only coding language, what would we like the syntax to look
like? (Without regard to past-bias. What should it really be, forget what
mistaken design choices were made in Swift in the past)
*B)* How do we approach making this happen behind the scenes?

*Bonus:* Given that some of us have changed our approach to programming
significantly beyond text based coding, and into more dynamic mediums of
programming in other niches, and even here and there in Xcode - I would
recommend considering how the IDE would show a modern version of this
concept. I feel too often that Swift design syntax has a *lack of awareness
between the distinctions of what the IDE should do, as opposed to what the
syntax of the language should be*, and what should be handled behind the
scenes by automated tooling.

_____________________

*My opinion*, in answering the above questions is in preference to a simple
easy to read and write syntax, something like the following:

choices Breakfast {
    Pancake, *Waffle*, Juice
}

If a "default" choice is desired, it is obvious to me that I would select
the choice from the IDE, and it would be visually indicated that it was the
default.

When changes occur, whether new choices are added, old ones are removed or
changed, or a default is added, changed, or removed - a behind the scenes
automated tool analyzes the changes and presents migration options through
the IDE.

_____________________

Sincerely,
Jason


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