<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Apr 24, 2016, at 1:34 PM, David Hart via swift-evolution <<a href="mailto:swift-evolution@swift.org" class="">swift-evolution@swift.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">I wrote the proposal which was discussed to introduce generic constraints for associated types. I’d like to get some feedback on it and get it ready before submitting it:<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.25em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.2; padding-bottom: 0.3em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'Segoe UI', Arial, freesans, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol'; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px !important;" class="">More Powerful Constraints for Associated Types</h1><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 2em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'Segoe UI', Arial, freesans, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol'; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><li style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Proposal: <a href="https://github.com/hartbit/swift-evolution/blob/master/proposals/XXXX-powerful-constraints-associated-types.md" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(64, 120, 192); text-decoration: none;" class="">SE-XXXX</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Author(s): <a href="http://github.com/hartbit" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(64, 120, 192); text-decoration: none;" class="">David Hart</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Status: <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">TBD</strong></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Review manager: TBD</li></ul><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 16px; line-height: 1.225; font-size: 1.75em; padding-bottom: 0.3em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'Segoe UI', Arial, freesans, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol'; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><a id="user-content-introduction" class="anchor" href="https://github.com/hartbit/swift-evolution/blob/master/proposals/XXXX-powerful-constraints-associated-types.md#introduction" aria-hidden="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(64, 120, 192); text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; padding-right: 2px; margin-left: -18px; line-height: 1;"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="octicon octicon-link" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path d="M4 9h1v1h-1c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5s1.55-3.5 3-3.5h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-0.91 2.72-2 3.25v-1.16c0.58-0.45 1-1.27 1-2.09 0-1.28-1.02-2.5-2-2.5H4c-0.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5s1 2.5 2 2.5z m9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5s-1.02 2.5-2 2.5H9c-0.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-0.83 0.42-1.64 1-2.09v-1.16c-1.09 0.53-2 1.84-2 3.25 0 1.81 1.55 3.5 3 3.5h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5s-1.5-3.5-3-3.5z"></path></svg></a>Introduction</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'Segoe UI', Arial, freesans, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol'; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">This proposal seeks to introduce a <code style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Menlo, Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; padding: 0.2em 0px; margin: 0px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0392157); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px;" class="">where</code> expression to associated types declarations to bring the same expressive power as generic type constraints.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'Segoe UI', Arial, freesans, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol'; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">This proposal was discussed on the Swift Evolution list in the <a href="http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lang.swift.evolution/14243" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(64, 120, 192); text-decoration: none;" class="">[swift-evolution] [Completing Generics] Arbitrary requirements in protocols</a> thread.</em></p></div></div></div></blockquote>Believe it or not, I support this direction…</div><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 16px; line-height: 1.225; font-size: 1.75em; padding-bottom: 0.3em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'Segoe UI', Arial, freesans, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol'; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><a id="user-content-motivation" class="anchor" href="https://github.com/hartbit/swift-evolution/blob/master/proposals/XXXX-powerful-constraints-associated-types.md#motivation" aria-hidden="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(64, 120, 192); text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; padding-right: 2px; margin-left: -18px; line-height: 1;"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="octicon octicon-link" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path d="M4 9h1v1h-1c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5s1.55-3.5 3-3.5h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-0.91 2.72-2 3.25v-1.16c0.58-0.45 1-1.27 1-2.09 0-1.28-1.02-2.5-2-2.5H4c-0.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5s1 2.5 2 2.5z m9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5s-1.02 2.5-2 2.5H9c-0.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-0.83 0.42-1.64 1-2.09v-1.16c-1.09 0.53-2 1.84-2 3.25 0 1.81 1.55 3.5 3 3.5h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5s-1.5-3.5-3-3.5z"></path></svg></a>Motivation</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'Segoe UI', Arial, freesans, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol'; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Currently, associated type declarations can only express simple inheritance constraints and not the more sophisticated constraints available to generic types with the <code style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Menlo, Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; padding: 0.2em 0px; margin: 0px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0392157); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px;" class="">where</code> expression. Some designs, including many in the Standard Library, require more powerful constraints for associated types to be truly elegant. For example, the <code style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Menlo, Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; padding: 0.2em 0px; margin: 0px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0392157); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px;" class="">SequenceType</code> protocol can be declared as follows:</p><pre style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: auto; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Menlo, Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; line-height: 1.45; padding: 16px; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; word-wrap: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><code style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Menlo, Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; background-color: transparent; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; word-break: normal; border: 0px; display: inline; line-height: inherit; word-wrap: normal;" class="">protocol Sequence {
associatedtype Iterator : IteratorProtocol
associatedtype SubSequence : Sequence where SubSequence.Iterator.Element == Iterator.Element
...
}
</code></pre><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 16px; line-height: 1.225; font-size: 1.75em; padding-bottom: 0.3em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'Segoe UI', Arial, freesans, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol'; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><a id="user-content-detail-design" class="anchor" href="https://github.com/hartbit/swift-evolution/blob/master/proposals/XXXX-powerful-constraints-associated-types.md#detail-design" aria-hidden="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(64, 120, 192); text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; padding-right: 2px; margin-left: -18px; line-height: 1;"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="octicon octicon-link" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path d="M4 9h1v1h-1c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5s1.55-3.5 3-3.5h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-0.91 2.72-2 3.25v-1.16c0.58-0.45 1-1.27 1-2.09 0-1.28-1.02-2.5-2-2.5H4c-0.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5s1 2.5 2 2.5z m9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5s-1.02 2.5-2 2.5H9c-0.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-0.83 0.42-1.64 1-2.09v-1.16c-1.09 0.53-2 1.84-2 3.25 0 1.81 1.55 3.5 3 3.5h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5s-1.5-3.5-3-3.5z"></path></svg></a>Detail Design</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'Segoe UI', Arial, freesans, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol'; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">With this proposal, the grammar for protocols associated types would be modified to:</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'Segoe UI', Arial, freesans, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol'; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">protocol-associated-type-declaration</em> → <em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">attributes<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; bottom: -0.25em;" class="">opt</span></em> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">access-level-modifier<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; bottom: -0.25em;" class="">opt</span></em> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">associatedtype</strong> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">typealias-name</em> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">type-inheritance-clause<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; bottom: -0.25em;" class="">opt</span></em> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">typealias-assignment<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; bottom: -0.25em;" class="">opt</span></em> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">requirement-clause<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; bottom: -0.25em;" class="">opt</span></em></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'Segoe UI', Arial, freesans, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol'; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">The new <code style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Menlo, Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; padding: 0.2em 0px; margin: 0px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0392157); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px;" class="">requirement-clause</code> is then used by the compiler to validate the associated types of conforming types.</p></div></div></div></blockquote>The only thing that bothers me about this syntax is that I have to introduce an associated type to add requirements. For example, what if I want my inheriting protocol to add a requirement to an existing associated type?</div><div><br class=""></div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div><font face="Menlo" class="">protocol P { }</font></div><div><font face="Menlo" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div><font face="Menlo" class="">protocol Q {</font></div><div><font face="Menlo" class=""> typealias AssocType</font></div><div><font face="Menlo" class="">}</font></div><div><font face="Menlo" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div><font face="Menlo" class="">protocol R : Q {</font></div><div><font face="Menlo" class=""> // I want to just add “AssocType : P”, but I have to redeclare AssocType to do so</font></div><div><font face="Menlo" class=""> typealias AssocType where AssocType : P</font></div><div><font face="Menlo" class="">}</font></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div><div>Did you consider an alternate syntax that puts the where clause outside the braces, e.g.,</div><div><br class=""></div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div><font face="Menlo" class="">protocol R : Q where AssocType : P {</font></div><div><font face="Menlo" class=""> // …</font></div><div><font face="Menlo" class="">}</font></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div><div>There are two things I like about this. First, it breaks the unnecessary link between an associated type and a (possibly unrelated) where clause, eliminating the need to redeclare associated types in inheriting protocols. Second, it’s effectively the same syntax as constrained extensions, which have a similar feel.</div><div><br class=""></div><div>Note that, if we do the above, I’d love to make it an error to define a new associated type with the same name as an associated type in an inherited protocol. It’s odd that we do so, and IIRC the only use case for it is to add requirement to an “existing” associated type.</div><div><br class=""></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Doug</div><div><br class=""></div><br class=""></body></html>