<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=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">I’m running into trouble using protocols as types when they have an associated type. I understand the restriction of using a protocol with an associated type only as a generic constraint, since our down-casting syntax has no way of checking the associated types. However, if I’m considering whether an instance conforms to a sub protocol, which introduces no additional associated types itself, when the instance is already known to conform to the super-protocol which introduces the associated type, I believe such behavior is well-defined, and should be supported. So, I’m asking for help to put together a proposal to get this added.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">Here’s an example:</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">3 protocols, one base Protocol which declares an associated type.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">And 2 sub-protocols.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">protocol A {</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>associatedType V</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">}</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">protocol B : A {</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>func someFunction<V>(V?)->String</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">}</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">protocol C : B {</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>func someOtherFunction<V>()->V?</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">}</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">Note that the sub protocols do not add additional associated types.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">When I want to use these protocols, using the base protocol as a generic constraint works fine.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">class M {</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>func doSomething<P, V>(a:P, completion:@escaping(V?)->()) where P : A, V==P.V {</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>if let c = a as? C {</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>c.someOtherFunction(…)</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>… more code</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>} else if let b = a as? B {</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>b.someFunction(…)</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>… more code</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>}</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>}</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">}</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">However, when I try to check whether the instance conforms to either of the sub-protocols, I get an error, saying protocols with associated types can only be used as generic constraints.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69); min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(69, 69, 69);" class="">I believe that in this case, since the sub-protocols do not add any additional associated types, this code should be well-defined, and compilable.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>