Note that static cast could be implemented as a library method!
public class ensure {
static <T> T type(T t) {
return t;
}
}
switch(ensure.<Number>type(o.get1().get2())) {
...
}
This is exactly a compile-time check :-)
With best regards,
Tagir Valeev.
On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 4:29 AM Brian Goetz <brian.go...@oracle.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Too bad there isn’t such a thing as a “static cast”. (Oooh! Ooh! “(static
> <type>) <expression>” ! :-). No, don’t do that; it’s a terrible pun on the
> word “static”.
>
>
> Alternately, what is too bad is that there _is_ such a thing as a "static
> cast", but it uses the same syntax, and has the same sort of contextual
> problem that Jens has complained about here!
>
> Suppose we have:
>
> class Foo<T> {
> void m(Foo f) {
> Foo<String> fs = (Foo<String>) f; // static cast!
> }
> }
>
> The cast to `Foo<String>` is purely a static cast. (Same with casts to
> things like `Foo<T>` or `T[]` or `T`.) Essentially, if the cast type is not
> reifiable, but the two types are cast-convertible (perhaps with an unchecked
> warning), then its a static type, otherwise its a dynamic type. This fact
> has cause plenty of trouble in Valhalla, since having such a cast magically
> become a dynamic one would surely cause problems.
>
> But, yes, if casts could be explicitly denoted as static or dynamic, this
> would do the trick.
>
> But if this turns out to be a big problem, it does suggest that one could
> have a form of switch in which the static type of the switch expression is
> declared. I don’t suggest pursuing it now, but it’s one idea to keep in our
> back pocket (where we can firmly sit on it unless and until needed).
>
>
> ... and we said the same thing the last time we were at this crossroads, with
> respect to totality in statement switches. Indeed, when the switch
> rehabiliation is complete, we can go back and ask what additional optional
> type checking we want to perform.
>
> The mistake of declaring variables as `T t` rather than `t : T` (where you
> can elide the type ascription in some cases) haunts us ever day ... if we had
> gone this way, you could get what you want quite naturally with
>
> switch (x : T) { ... }
>
> as a static type assertion.
