if you restricted the typestr to integral types (or composition of integral types), would there be any garbage collection issues?
On Tue, Dec 16, 2025 at 8:19 AM <[email protected]> wrote: > > Quoth sirjofri via 9fans <[email protected]>: > > Hi, > > > > I just had a quick thought about using typestr in libgeometry. However, I > > noticed that typestr is nowhere used in 9front at all (besides the compiler > > that implements it as a feature). > > > > Thinking about how typestr provides pretty cool syntactic sugar, I was > > wondering why that's the case? Is there a goal to maintain the C standard > > as far as it makes sense, or is it compatibility between plan 9 systems? > > > > Before thinking about it too much, I just ask here. > > > > I personally only use it in some cases where it makes sense, in cases > > similar to the complex number example I was able to find online[1]. I don't > > think it should be used to hide things, just to provide the ability to > > write code that's easier to read and understand. For example, instead of > > combining matrices using functions, I could just type S * R * S, or to add > > vectors, I can just V + W. For plan 9, adding Points would be trivial. > > > > Note that I'm _not_ proposing to update all of the routines to use this > > feature. I'd just like to know your thoughts about using it (or not using > > it). > > > > sirjofri > > > > [1] https://github.com/henesy/plan9-typestr/blob/master/typestr.md > > > > It's a subtly wrong feature -- it looks cute, but doesn't > generalize well in C. Finishing it would imply garbage > collection (or at least destructors), which have their > own disadvantages. > > It may work for some things. This, for example, is fine: > > typestr mpint ...; > > mpint *x = mpnew(42); > mpint *y = mpnew(123); > mpint *z = x * y; //ok, fine > mpfree(x); > mpfree(y); > > but what about: > > mpint *x = mpnew(42); > mpint *y = mpnew(123); > mpint *z = x * (y - x) * (y - x); > mpfree(x); > mpfree(y); > > There are intermediate expressions along the way > which would need to be allocated; who frees them? > ------------------------------------------ 9fans: 9fans Permalink: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/T7ee24291af957db7-M69777688ed15e9c6bf1d4793 Delivery options: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/subscription
