5 ms·

Just because null is a type in the type system doesn't mean it has to be a special type.

by RX14 8y ago

lmm 8y ago
That's the only way I've ever seen it implemented. If you're proposing some idea for having null in the type system as a normal type (that doesn't boil down to just being equivalent to Option/Maybe), can you be more concrete?
- RX14 8y ago
  Being able to create arbitrary union types between different types, like crystal (which I work on). The difference between that and option/maybe is that it ends up playing nicely with flow typing without any special cases for optional/maybe in the flow typing.
  - lmm 8y ago
    You shouldn't need special cases for optional/maybe in the first case; optional/maybe are simple sum types, you would want whatever flow-typing system you have to do the right thing with user-defined "x or y or z" types, and if you do that then it'll automatically work just as well for optional/maybe. (I don't like inclusive union types because they're noncompositional - code you write with them isn't parametric any more - which seems particularly awkward in a compiled language - how do you compile code that forms unions involving type parameters?)
    - RX14 8y ago
      You shouldn't be able to use a type without giving all the necessary type parameters, so you can't form a union type with unbound type parameters in so it's not a problem? I'm not 100% sure what you're asking... I'm not 100% sure how you can integrate sum types with a flow-typing system, perhaps with pattern matching?
      - lmm 8y ago
        > You shouldn't be able to use a type without giving all the necessary type parameters, so you can't form a union type with unbound type parameters in So inside the body of a generic method (or class) you can't form unions involving the method's type parameters? That works but makes them much less useful as a language feature - most language features work as normal within a generic method. > I'm not 100% sure how you can integrate sum types with a flow-typing system, perhaps with pattern matching? Whatever you do for union types should work, surely. Indeed it ought to be simpler since you have more information to work with - with a sum type if the thing is B then you know it's not A, whereas with a union type it's possible for the thing to be both A and B.
        RX14 8y ago
        In crystal, the compiler always knows the concrete values of the type parameters of any generic before typing it. I really am interested in knowing more about what you said about union types being non compositional because I'm definitely not a type theorist. The crystal compiler wasn't written by type theorists and the typing algorithm is completely home-grown. And regarding sum types I was just thinking syntactically instead of in terms of the type system.
        lmm 8y ago
        > In crystal, the compiler always knows the concrete values of the type parameters of any generic before typing it. Hmm. Does that mean you can't have a generic method in a separate compilation unit from where it gets used? > I really am interested in knowing more about what you said about union types being non compositional because I'm definitely not a type theorist. I'm not really a type theorist, I'm just thinking about e.g. if you have a method like: def doSomething[A](userSuppliedValue: A) = { val x = if(someCondition) Some(userSuppliedValue) else None x match { case Some(a) => y ... case None => z ... } x match { case None => v ... case Some(a) => w ... } } then the compiler knows that if we take branch y we will also take branch w and if we take branch z we will also take branch v. Whereas if you do the same thing with an inclusive union type, that's true most of the time but not when userSuppliedValue is null.

Just because null is a type in the type system doesn't mean it has to be a special type.

by RX14 8y ago

Just because null is a type in the type system doesn't mean it has to be a special type.

lmm 8y ago

That's the only way I've ever seen it implemented. If you're proposing some idea for having null in the type system as a normal type (that doesn't boil down to just being equivalent to Option/Maybe), can you be more concrete?

RX14 8y ago
Being able to create arbitrary union types between different types, like crystal (which I work on). The difference between that and option/maybe is that it ends up playing nicely with flow typing without any special cases for optional/maybe in the flow typing.
- lmm 8y ago
  You shouldn't need special cases for optional/maybe in the first case; optional/maybe are simple sum types, you would want whatever flow-typing system you have to do the right thing with user-defined "x or y or z" types, and if you do that then it'll automatically work just as well for optional/maybe. (I don't like inclusive union types because they're noncompositional - code you write with them isn't parametric any more - which seems particularly awkward in a compiled language - how do you compile code that forms unions involving type parameters?)
  - RX14 8y ago
    You shouldn't be able to use a type without giving all the necessary type parameters, so you can't form a union type with unbound type parameters in so it's not a problem? I'm not 100% sure what you're asking... I'm not 100% sure how you can integrate sum types with a flow-typing system, perhaps with pattern matching?
    - lmm 8y ago
      > You shouldn't be able to use a type without giving all the necessary type parameters, so you can't form a union type with unbound type parameters in So inside the body of a generic method (or class) you can't form unions involving the method's type parameters? That works but makes them much less useful as a language feature - most language features work as normal within a generic method. > I'm not 100% sure how you can integrate sum types with a flow-typing system, perhaps with pattern matching? Whatever you do for union types should work, surely. Indeed it ought to be simpler since you have more information to work with - with a sum type if the thing is B then you know it's not A, whereas with a union type it's possible for the thing to be both A and B.
      - RX14 8y ago
        In crystal, the compiler always knows the concrete values of the type parameters of any generic before typing it. I really am interested in knowing more about what you said about union types being non compositional because I'm definitely not a type theorist. The crystal compiler wasn't written by type theorists and the typing algorithm is completely home-grown. And regarding sum types I was just thinking syntactically instead of in terms of the type system.
        lmm 8y ago
        > In crystal, the compiler always knows the concrete values of the type parameters of any generic before typing it. Hmm. Does that mean you can't have a generic method in a separate compilation unit from where it gets used? > I really am interested in knowing more about what you said about union types being non compositional because I'm definitely not a type theorist. I'm not really a type theorist, I'm just thinking about e.g. if you have a method like: def doSomething[A](userSuppliedValue: A) = { val x = if(someCondition) Some(userSuppliedValue) else None x match { case Some(a) => y ... case None => z ... } x match { case None => v ... case Some(a) => w ... } } then the compiler knows that if we take branch y we will also take branch w and if we take branch z we will also take branch v. Whereas if you do the same thing with an inclusive union type, that's true most of the time but not when userSuppliedValue is null.