# This is a living document - delete things when done. Avoid discussion.
-## Needs implementations
-
-### Current version (Cataract Creek)
-
-- allow type names to be used before declared. Need to re-evaluate all
- type sizes after parse.
-- resolve the HACK of allowing assign from struct when name starts space.
-- '?' prefix operator returns Boolean, index operator for strings. Can be used to
- test for end-of-string
-- ?? infix operator return LHS if '?' on it would succeed, else RHS
-- reference to struct or intrinsic (@foo), with @new, @free, @nil and ? to test
-- add [] as size-of-array
-- replace [foo::] declaration of array with [] - fix all main() calls
+## Needs implementation
### Next Version (Govetts Creek)
+- split base_prototype into num/bool/str/label/none
- int nat cyc {i,n,c}{8,16,32,64} - maybe not cyc - it needs size.
- ops: # & | ~ &~ - no shift: use (N * #shift) or (N / #shift)
- op=
- enum, with multi-valued names. enum foo { yes, no, many(10) }
bar:foo=.yes; if bar == .no... if ?bar.many: print bar.many, "items"
- Maybe .true and .false for Boolean
-- change use/case labels in ".name" which creates a local enum if no
- type is evident.
+ Maybe .true and .false for Boolean.
+- change use/case labels to create a local enum if no type is evident.
- set, with bool or int members. set foo { pinned, memalloc, priority(4) }
bar:foo = .memalloc | .priority(2). if bar.pinned: bar.priority += 1
-- allow global names to be used before they are declared. Assume global
- if undeclared, and complain in final analysis.
-. array slices - references to arrays
-- array access to read bytes from strings. How to get length? "?string[4]" ??
- array[] gets length??
+. array slices - references to arrays "foo: []bar"
+- array access to read bytes from strings. array[] gets length
+- remove 'use', replace with 'select' for non-bool and 'continue' for bool and "return" for function
+- "return" should convert a referenct to a reference if needed.
+- remove all tests on type->functions
+- use a type->function for performing function call
+- revise all commentary
+- blog post
+- release
-### Subsequent version
+### Subsequent version - Nepean River ??
+- Maybe allow a reference to be passed to function where the by-value is expected
- 'return' statement similar to 'use', but only valid a function context
- 'return' can take no value when function has inline/transparent return value
- simple methods. Define "func type.name...." and the name will only be visible
- 'use' labels *must* appear in case statements.
- 'then' can extend a case section into some other.
+### And then ...
+- constructors(called by @new) and destructors (called by @free)
+- "?type" which includes an error flag in the type
+- interfaces - with syntax for function type declarations, including
+ type parameterisation
+- const arrays that are extended incrementally
+- enums that are extended incrementally
+- enum as array index. foo:[:enum]int. foo[.baz] = 23
+- modules - exported names in versions, and import lists
+ on types, fields, constants, etc
+- foreach variable-list := make_generator() do
+ A generator has 'first', 'next' and 'finally' methods
+ 'first' and 'next' return the same type which is conditional ('?' works)
+ 'finally' returns some other type - possibly Tnone - which goes to
+ a set of case at end of loop
+ NOTE need to understand how break/continue are handled.
+- lamba - inline functions. If possible allow a syntax that looks like 'while'...
+- "run" statement which copies things to a new frame and runs in
+ parallel. It has no 'return' value
+
+### static analysis
+- add generic attributes with rules for what values are allowed with
+ which attributes. Need to track:
+ - when object should be freed
+ - when ref is NULL
+ - when value is valid
+ - when int is in some range
+ - when object is "locked"
+ structures can have virtual 'state' fields which align with attributes
+ and certain state values imply certain attributes.
+
+### export
+- structs which have endian and are not sorted (records)
+- interface to C api (FFI)
+
+### escape
+- for an attribute
+- convert between integers and refs.
+
+### compile time reflection
+- code that can interpret attributes etc??
+
## Needs Design
+- review {} syntax issues - look at weird test cases
+- do I need a 'rune' type? What are the elements of a string?
+ Are they small strings? Can I convert to codepoint by treating as number?
+ How much of this is in the utf8 library? Can a string literal be a number?
+- exactly where does auto enref/deref happen?
+ .foo modifier does auto-deref
+ (args) modifier does auto-deref (if that makes sense)
+ assignments does auto-enref
+ function parameter passing does auto enref and auto deref
+
+ general operators? Not comparison. Not test. Probably not anything.
+
+- can "A if B else C" have "A" and "C" be different - one a ref and one not?
+ This might make sense if a ref was wanted - an lvalue is then accepted.
+ But then the ref can have '@' applied so it becomes an lvalue. So "no".
+
+- ? modifier for type makes "no such value" an option, detected by '?' operator
+- $ operator to convert to ?number from ... ref? enum?
+ ?$"hello" can test if the conversion would work. '$foo ?? default'
+ provides a default value
+- a suffix on a number/string can provide soft typing which is interpreted
+ in type context. Must like .enumvalue is interpreted only the context of
+ expected type, '43i' would only be meaningful in the same context.
+- const arrays that are initialized incrementally throughout the code,
+ and post-processed at compile-time, e.g. to sort or derive LR tables.
+ Maybe even across modules.
+ Need a syntax
+ Maybe 'const' can be followed by name of a const which forms the namespace.
+ So a struct bar containing x and y could be initialized
+ const foo::bar
+ x ::= 1; y::=2
+ Then an array could be extended with [+]
+ const ra[+]
+ x::=2 ...
+
+ The syntax needs to be clearly different from
+ const a::num=1; b::=2
+ if that is still allowed
+ Maybe the '=' is enough to differentiate
+
+- IN and OUT should not be completely ignored when not expected.
+ As well as causing NEWLINE to be ignored, there should be some
+ balance requirement. Some productions should be required to be
+ balanced. Lists should not have gratuitous indents.
+ Revisit everything I considered before, but now consider it only
+ for ignore IN/OUT.
+
+- "debug" code that can be compiled out. For code, "if debug" is enough
+ if the const can be set easily. For structure members a 'debugonly'
+ attribute needs to be handled. Of course 'debug' is multifaceted.
+ We might want tracing, consistency, profiling, etc.
+
- union types - how do I want to support these? inheritance with variance?
+- how are mixins represented?
- lambda
- 'error' value for various types. NIL for pointer NaN for float, extra flag bit
for integers. -MAX_INT ??
- 'borrowed' and 'owned' attributes for pointers. .free method
- interfaces - list of methods that must be defined
- standard interfaces to access operations: group, field, binary, logical
-- modules - exported names in versions, and import lists
- on types, fields, constants, etc
-- foreach variable-list := make_generator() do
- A generator has 'first', 'next' and 'finally' methods
- 'first' and 'next' return the same type which is conditional ('?' works)
- 'finally' returns some other type - possibly Tnone - which goes to
- a set of case at end of loop
+ How is compatibility of type for second argument assessed?
+ For integers we allow upgrading or even down-grading??
+ This is for overloading operators. Can we combine them?
+ * / % + - neg abs
+ and or not
+ ++ ?? ?
+ []
+ () (funcall)
+ if/else
+ < <= > >= == !=
+ # & | ~ &~
+
+ I think and/or/not/if-else/??/? cannot be overloaded
+ Can '?' be used to mae booleans of anything? How does that
+ interfere with jusing it to test a reference?
+ i.e. how do a query an object when I have a ref?
+ "compare" can, but it is one operator with aliases. or maybe 2, eql and cmp
+ ++ [] definitely can be overloaded though [] need to know if assignment or access
+ assignment?? Can that be overloaded i.e. trigger on access.
+ () can be redirected via 'transparent' function member
- attributes for fields and local variables
transparent - names inside can be accessed directly
-
+
handled - accesses convert to function calls??
constant - compile time constant - not stored
stable - ??
Are these always there to provide an interface for a value?
Do I want a syntax for functions that just provides a value
func (a:number; b:string):number = a+b[]
-
+
- units for numbers
- iso suffixes for number?
- static variables. Easy to implement, but need a syntax. Something
NO- typeswitch?
- ??? algebraic types
+- code can appear in multiple forms:
+ - source code
+ - abstract syntax tree
+ - byte-code
+ - loadable machine code
+ - executable-only machine code
+ All but last can be loaded by 'ocean' and transformed into a later form,
+ or executed directly. byte-code and loadable machine code will likely
+ have ast content was well to describe types and provide template code.
+
## Needed in library
- augmented and overloaded pointers
An augmented pointer can also store a flag- for a bitlock etc
code / ocean-D / blobdiff