Fun fact: the compiler itself has some limited inference abilities for return types, they are just not exposed to the language: https://play.rust-lang.org/?vers

Fun fact: the compiler itself has some limited inference abilities for return types, they are just not exposed to the language: https://play.rust-lang.org/?version=nightly&mode=debug&edition=2024&gist=5a02b067e7b9a3d0f192d9b9a319f620 https://play.rust-lang.org/?version=nightly&mode=debug&editi... I have some desire to make an RFC for limited cross-item inference within a single crate, but part of it wouldn't be needed with stabilized impl Trait in more positions. For public items I don't think the language will ever allow it, not only due to technical concerns (not wanting global inference causing compile times to explode) but also language design concerns (inferred return types would be a very big footgun around API stability for crate owners).