Uniform Function Call Syntax

[kuchta]

Have you guys ever considered using UFCS for methods like D/Nim/Koka/CppFront? Apart from simpler and more universal syntax, less concepts to learn it provides a very straigforward way to extend type's methods.

[kyouko-taiga]

Yes, we have. Unfortunately it doesn't work too nicely for Hylo because our name resolution strategy is quite sophisticated and therefore it is very valuable for our solver to bound the search space for method selection.

Nonetheless, all functions are in fact "free functions" in Hylo and they can be called as such. For example (in new syntax):

struct S {
  public let y: Int
  public memberwise init
  public fun truc(x: Int) -> Int { x + y }
}

public fun main() {
  let i = S(y: 1)

  let f = S.truc   // f : [](self: let S, x: let Int) let -> Int
  let g = i.truc   // g : [{remote let S}](x: let Int) let -> Int
}

We have two dedicated features to extend the methods of a type: traits and extensions. Traits in particular are essential for supporting separate checking and compilation of generics.