<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 6 Aug 2016, at 11:05, Adrian Zubarev 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=""><div class="bloop_markdown" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><p style="margin: 15px 0px; -webkit-margin-before: 0px;" class="">What’s so confusing about<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal; -webkit-margin-before: 0px;" class="">MemoryLayout<T.Type>.size</code>?</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px;" class=""><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal; -webkit-margin-before: 0px;" class="">size</code><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in this context gives you the size for the metatype of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal;" class="">T</code>, not the size of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal;" class="">T</code>.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px;" class="">If I memorize correctly:</p><ul style="margin: 15px 0px;" class=""><li style="margin: 15px 0px; -webkit-margin-before: 0px;" class="">Size of metatypes of value types and functions/closures is 0.</li><li style="margin: 15px 0px;" class="">Size for class metatypes is 8.</li><li style="margin: 15px 0px;" class="">Size for protocols metatypes (in your case it’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal; -webkit-margin-before: 0px;" class="">P.Protocol</code>, not<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal;" class="">P.Type</code>) is 16 except for the (old) empty protocol<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal;" class="">Any</code><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>which is 8.</li></ul><p style="margin: 15px 0px;" class="">You may ask why these metatypes have these sizes?! I can’t answer this question, because I don’t know the technical reason, but it doesn’t matter in our case.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px;" class="">Furthermore there is a difference between<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal; -webkit-margin-before: 0px;" class="">T.Type</code><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and what you get from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal;" class="">T.self</code>.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px;" class=""><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal; -webkit-margin-before: 0px;" class="">T.self</code><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>returns a concrete metatype for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal;" class="">T</code>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal;" class="">T.Type</code><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is a metatype supertype for all subtypes of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal;" class="">T</code><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>if there exist a subtype relationship.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px;" class="">That’s why something like this works fine:</p><pre style="margin: 15px 0px; font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: auto; padding: 4px 8px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal;" class=""><code class="swift" style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal; -webkit-margin-before: 0px;">let a1: Any.Type = Int.self // `Int.self` is 0 where `Any.self` is 8
let a2: Any.Type = P.self // same story with different sizes
</code></pre><p style="margin: 15px 0px;" class="">We’re revising our proposal to provide a clear distinction of this behavior and get rid of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal; -webkit-margin-before: 0px;" class="">.Protocol</code><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><code style="font-family: Menlo, Consolas, 'Liberation Mono', Courier, monospace; font-size: 10pt; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: inherit; border: 1px solid rgb(234, 234, 234); margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px 5px; word-break: normal; word-wrap: normal;" class="">.Type</code>.</p><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></blockquote><br class=""></div><div>I think the underlying issue isn’t that MemoryLayout<T> vs MemoryLayout<T.Type> is confusing, it’s that our metatype system is a little awkward, so the way you construct a MemoryLayout<X> can lead to non-obvious results unless you’re an expert. Given time constraints, the most practical solution which gives us the best product for Swift 3.0 is to revise the MemoryLayout interface, but I think most users would be happy to see some simplification of the metatype system for Swift >3.0.</div><div><br class=""></div><div>Personally I only sporadically remember which name means what in a given context. Oh, the dark corners I would have been lost in without code-completion…</div><div><br class=""></div><div><br class=""></div></body></html>