1 # This is a living document - delete things when done. Avoid discussion.
3 ## Needs implementation
5 ### Current version (Cataract Creek)
7 - allow passing objects to functions by reference is requested
8 - add [] as size-of-array
9 - replace [foo::] declaration of array with [] - fix all main() calls
10 - ensure all param passing and value return is handled correctly
12 - revise all commentary
16 ### Next Version (Govetts Creek)
17 - int nat cyc {i,n,c}{8,16,32,64} - maybe not cyc - it needs size.
18 - ops: # & | ~ &~ - no shift: use (N * #shift) or (N / #shift)
20 - enum, with multi-valued names. enum foo { yes, no, many(10) }
21 bar:foo=.yes; if bar == .no... if ?bar.many: print bar.many, "items"
22 Maybe .true and .false for Boolean
23 - change use/case labels to create a local enum if no type is evident.
24 - set, with bool or int members. set foo { pinned, memalloc, priority(4) }
25 bar:foo = .memalloc | .priority(2). if bar.pinned: bar.priority += 1
26 . array slices - references to arrays "foo: []bar"
27 - array access to read bytes from strings. How to get length? "?string[4]" ??
29 - revise all commentary
33 ### Subsequent version
34 - 'return' statement similar to 'use', but only valid a function context
35 - 'return' can take no value when function has inline/transparent return value
36 - simple methods. Define "func type.name...." and the name will only be visible
37 within namespace for type.
38 - optional args for functions - if value given
39 - named args? Needs to look like manifest structs
40 - array args - last parameter can collect all remaining as array if attribute 'open'
41 do I need attribute? Can anything be type compatible with both X and []X ??
42 - initial values for return parameters
43 - convert between string and array-of-cyc8
45 - transparent fields, parameters which are structs or pointers
46 - transparent fields which are arrays
47 - transparent results from functions to have same effect as inline-results
48 - manifest values for records: [.foo = a, .bar = b]
49 - manifest values for arrays: [expr = expr, ...]
50 - constant structure definitions
51 - const structures can inherit from another, and update select fields.
52 - 'use' labels *must* appear in case statements.
53 - 'then' can extend a case section into some other.
56 - exactly where does auto enref/deref happen?
57 .foo modifier does auto-deref
58 (args) modifier does auto-deref (if that makes sense)
59 assignments does auto-enref
60 function parameter passing does auto enref and auto deref
62 general operators? Not comparison. Not test. Probably not anything.
64 - can "A if B else C" have "A" and "C" be different - one a ref and one not?
65 This might make sense if a ref was wanted - an lvalue is then accepted.
67 - ? modifier for type makes "no such value" an option, detected by '?' operator
68 - $ operator to convert to ?number from ... ref? enum?
69 ?$"hello" can test if the conversion would work. '$foo ?? default'
70 provides a default value
71 - a suffix on a number/string can provide soft typing which is interpreted
72 in type context. Must like .enumvalue is interpreted only the context of
73 expected type, '43i' would only be meaningful in the same context.
74 - const arrays that are initialized incrementally throughout the code,
75 and post-processed at compile-time, e.g. to sort or derive LR tables.
76 Maybe even across modules.
78 Maybe 'const' can be followed by name of a const which forms the namespace.
79 So a struct bar containing x and y could be initialized
82 Then an array could be extended with [+]
86 The syntax needs to be clearly different from
88 if that is still allowed
89 Maybe the '=' is enough to differentiate
91 - IN and OUT should not be completely ignored when not expected.
92 As well as causing NEWLINE to be ignored, there should be some
93 balance requirement. Some productions should be required to be
94 balanced. Lists should not have gratuitous indents.
95 Revisit everything I considered before, but now consider it only
98 - "debug" code that can be compiled out. For code, "if debug" is enough
99 if the const can be set easily. For structure members a 'debugonly'
100 attribute needs to be handled. Of course 'debug' is multifaceted.
101 We might want tracing, consistency, profiling, etc.
103 - union types - how do I want to support these? inheritance with variance?
105 - 'error' value for various types. NIL for pointer NaN for float, extra flag bit
106 for integers. -MAX_INT ??
107 - enum as array index. foo:[:enum]int. foo[.baz] = 23
109 - const fields in structs: like const, but in 'type' namespace, not 'module'
110 - 'borrowed' and 'owned' attributes for pointers. .free method
111 - interfaces - list of methods that must be defined
112 - standard interfaces to access operations: group, field, binary, logical
113 - modules - exported names in versions, and import lists
114 on types, fields, constants, etc
115 - foreach variable-list := make_generator() do
116 A generator has 'first', 'next' and 'finally' methods
117 'first' and 'next' return the same type which is conditional ('?' works)
118 'finally' returns some other type - possibly Tnone - which goes to
119 a set of case at end of loop
121 - attributes for fields and local variables
122 transparent - names inside can be accessed directly
124 handled - accesses convert to function calls??
125 constant - compile time constant - not stored
127 add-only - ?? like append-only.
128 read-only - set early never changed?
130 owned - Can be borrowed and freed
131 borrowed - There is somewhere this is borrowed from
133 pure - definitely not an error
134 endian(big,small,pdp)
135 attributes for whole struct
136 unsorted - fields appear as written
137 packed - like unsorted, but no gaps permitted.
139 - lambda functions for passing as arg to function.
140 Are these always there to provide an interface for a value?
141 Do I want a syntax for functions that just provides a value
142 func (a:number; b:string):number = a+b[]
145 - iso suffixes for number?
146 - static variables. Easy to implement, but need a syntax. Something
150 reference attributes for locks and refcounts etc
152 - do/go/run/fork/async complex statement
153 All local variables accessed in the body are read-only
154 and copied to a new frame, and code is run in a new thread.
155 Thread is mostly invisible. It interacts through shared objects,
156 particularly the caller might create a channel and the thread
157 might send messages on it. Any interesting handshakes
158 are mediated by appropriate data structures.
160 - arbitrary value asserts tied to variable attributes.
161 e.g. ranges for value and relationships between fields
162 These are tested by compiler at any changed. Somehow.
164 - expose parse info for editing by code run at compile time.
165 This allows new attributes to be implemented in app code.
166 E.g. handling bigendian fields by adding conversion functions.
168 - Finalize what a "main" program looks like.
169 should argv come from a library (sys.argv), or should environ go to main?
172 - constructors and destructors - or "after" ??
173 destructors, which can be declared inline
174 - vtables, fat pointers, list of approaches
175 - interfaces, inheritance
176 - closures, threads, co-routines, generators lamdas
177 - generics/templates. These should be just a compile-time
178 decision. Same code can be called with suitable methods passed, or
179 recompiled in the new context and then optimised.
180 - introspection / reflection ?
181 e.g. support serialization
182 find function given a string holding the name
183 measure coverage, adjust based on performance metrics
184 auto-create mock objects
185 Is this just parsing the details in the obj file?
187 - parameterised types, and dependant types
188 - message passing primitives
189 - overloading for numbers
191 - ensure list_head type concept can work
193 NO - pattern matching for destructuring??
194 - casts to and from "binary".
196 - ??? algebraic types
198 - code can appear in multiple forms:
200 - abstract syntax tree
202 - loadable machine code
203 - executable-only machine code
204 All but last can be loaded by 'ocean' and transformed into a later form,
205 or executed directly. byte-code and loadable machine code will likely
206 have ast content was well to describe types and provide template code.
209 - augmented and overloaded pointers
210 An augmented pointer can also store a flag- for a bitlock etc
211 An overloaded pointer can alternately store an int - e.g. error code
212 - garbage collection?
213 - UTF8 string disection
215 - cvt() interface an format() function
216 - parsing: rexep? LALR? sscan?
218 - auto-growing buffer including strings