Daniel Sun created GROOVY-12753:
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             Summary: STC fails to resolve receiver type arguments when 
choosing among generic overloads
                 Key: GROOVY-12753
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-12753
             Project: Groovy
          Issue Type: Bug
          Components: Static Type Checker
            Reporter: Daniel Sun


h3. Background

GROOVY-7204 and GROOVY-8059 both covered static type checking of overloaded 
methods whose parameter types are type parameters of a generic receiver (for 
example a Spring-style {{CrudRepository<T, S>}} with {{delete(T)}} and 
{{delete(S)}}). Those issues were resolved and closed some time ago. Residual 
cases remain where the type checker still ranks candidates against the unbound 
type-parameter names instead of against the arguments of the concrete receiver 
type, and where non-{{Class}} receivers lose their generic arguments when 
methods are looked up.

This ticket describes that remaining problem space. Work in progress: [PR 
#3261|https://github.com/apache/groovy/pull/3261].

h3. Problem

When {{StaticTypeCheckingSupport.chooseBestMethods}} has several candidates 
that differ only in type-parameter positions, it measures argument-parameter 
distance before substituting the receiver's type arguments into those 
parameters. For a receiver such as {{MyRepository extends 
CrudRepository<String, Long>}}, a call {{r.delete('foo')}} should prefer 
{{delete(String)}} over {{delete(Long)}}. Without the substitution, both 
parameters still look like free type variables and the call is rejected or the 
wrong overload is chosen.

A related gap is that {{StaticTypeCheckingVisitor.visitMethodCallExpression}} 
does not always keep generic type arguments on a non-{{Class}} receiver when it 
calls {{findMethod}}, so even a correct distance measure never sees the 
instantiation.

Nested classes add a further case: type arguments declared on an enclosing 
class must stay visible when the receiver is a nested type that mentions those 
enclosing parameters.

h3. Expected behaviour

* For a receiver whose type arguments bind the method's type-parameter 
positions, overload ranking uses the substituted parameter types.
* When no candidate matches after substitution, ranking falls back to erased 
parameter distance so single-target mismatch diagnostics stay unchanged.
* Non-{{Class}} receivers keep their generic arguments through method lookup.
* Type arguments from enclosing classes remain visible when binding a nested 
receiver.

h3. Reproducer (sketch)

A type-checked {{MyRepository extends CrudRepository<String, Long>}} with 
{{delete(T)}} / {{delete(S)}} overloads, and a call {{r.delete('foo')}} on a 
{{MyRepository}} value. The call should compile and select {{delete(String)}}. 
The same pattern for abstract classes and for nested types that close over 
enclosing type arguments is covered by the suite attached to PR #3261 
({{Groovy7204}} and related STC tests).

h3. Scope

Fix the residual STC ranking and receiver-binding behaviour described above. Do 
not reopen GROOVY-7204 or GROOVY-8059; link them as related history.



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