We’ll probably agree to disagree there. Java has a lot of generic code written
and it’s never been a problem (using methods). Rarely can you write code that
treats + the same no matter if passed a string or numeric.
Even operators like < with strings don’t really make a lot of sense because
different collations are used.
I think having a higher bar for Go generic implementations is fine - writing
generic code properly is harder than regular Go - there’s much more to resin
about.
> On Aug 6, 2020, at 1:53 PM, Ian Lance Taylor <i...@golang.org> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Aug 5, 2020 at 8:52 PM Robert Engels <reng...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>>
>> I understand your point, but I think a few minor corrections Make a
>> difference - it does not matter that String supports + and not - , a string
>> would not be a Number. String concatenation is not addition.
>
> My point wasn't that a string is a number. My point was that the
> current design draft permits writing a function that uses + and works
> with both strings and numbers. If we adopt something along the lines
> of what you are suggesting, we must either define a name for "types
> that support +" or we must say "you can't write a generic function
> that uses + and works with both strings and numbers."
>
>
>> There are also several ways to implement “ordering” with complex numbers,
>> even between complex and rational - it’s all a matter of definition. There
>> is also the possibility to make complex not a Comparable (compile time
>> failure).
>
> In Go, the types complex64 and complex128 do not support the < <= >= >
> operators. That is what I mean when I say that the complex types are
> not ordered. I'm not sure it matters that it is possible to define
> some ordering on complex numbers; the point is that the language
> defines no such ordering, so if you need to use ordering operators you
> can't use complex types.
>
>
>> You write the generic code using methods not operators in all cases.
>
> Ah, I didn't understand that. I think that is a non-starter. I think
> it is a requirement that people be able to write (and read) Min as
>
> if a < b {
> return a
> }
> return b
>
> Saying that you must write this as, e.g.,
>
> if a.Less(b) {
> return a
> }
> return b
>
> means that the generic language is not the normal language. That adds
> a massive layer of complexity to using generics: you can no longer
> write ordinary Go code for generic functions, you have to write in
> this alternative language that is harder to write and harder to read.
> You also have to remember a bunch of names for the methods that
> correspond to the operators. The design draft works very hard to
> avoid these issues.
>
> In particular, I think that making that requirement would be adding
> much more complexity to the language than we get by adding type lists.
>
> Ian
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