SIP-NN - Match infix & prefix types to meet expression rules

sips/pending/_posts/2017-02-07-make-types-behave-like-expressions.md

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+---
+layout: sip
+disqus: true
+title: SIP-NN - Match infix & prefix types to meet expression rules 
+---
+
+**By: Oron Port**
+
+## History
+
+| Date          | Version                  |
+|---------------|--------------------------|
+| Feb 7th 2017  | Initial Draft            |
+| Feb 9th 2017  | Updates from feedback    |
+| Feb 10th 2017 | Updates from feedback    |
+
+Your feedback is welcome! If you're interested in discussing this proposal, head over to [this](https://contributors.scala-lang.org/t/sip-nn-make-infix-type-alias-precedence-like-expression-operator-precedence/471) Scala Contributors thread and let me know what you think.
+
+---
+## Introduction
+Currently scala allows symbol operators (`-`, `*`, `~~>`, etc.) for both type names and definition names.
+Unfortunately, there is a 'surprise' element since the two differ in behaviour:
+
+###Infix operator precedence and associativity 
+Infix types are 'mostly' left-associative, 
+while the expression operation precedence is determined by the operator's first character (e.g., `/` is precedent to `+`). 
+Please see [Infix Types](http://scala-lang.org/files/archive/spec/2.12/03-types.html#infix-types) and [Infix Operations](http://scala-lang.org/files/archive/spec/2.12/06-expressions.html#infix-operations) sections of the Scala specifications for more details. 
+
+**Example**:
+```scala
+object InfixExpressionPrecedence {
+  case class Nummy(expand : String) {
+    def + (that : Nummy) : Nummy = Nummy(s"Plus[$this,$that]")
+    def / (that : Nummy) : Nummy = Nummy(s"Div[$this,$that]")
+  }
+  object N1 extends Nummy("N1")
+  object N2 extends Nummy("N2")
+  object N3 extends Nummy("N3")
+  object N4 extends Nummy("N4")
+  //Both expand to Plus[Plus[N1,Div[N2,N3]],N4]
+  assert((N1 + N2 / N3 + N4).expand == (N1 + (N2 / N3) + N4).expand)
+}
+object InfixTypePrecedence {
+  trait Plus[N1, N2]
+  trait Div[N1, N2]
+  type +[N1, N2] = Plus[N1, N2]
+  type /[N1, N2] = Div[N1, N2]
+  trait N1
+  trait N2
+  trait N3
+  trait N4
+  //Error!
+  //Left  expands to Plus[Plus[N1,Div[N2,N3]],N4] (Surprising)
+  //Right expands to Plus[Div[Plus[N1,N2],N3],N4]
+  implicitly[(N1 + N2 / N3 + N4) =:= (N1 + (N2 / N3) + N4)]
+}
+```
+
+###Prefix operators bracketless unary use
+While expressions have prefix unary operators, there are none for types. See the [Prefix Operations](http://scala-lang.org/files/archive/spec/2.12/06-expressions.html#prefix-operations) section of the Scala specification. 
+This is a lacking feature of the type language Scala offers. See also interactions of this feature with other Scala features, further down this text. 
+
+
+**Example**:
+```scala
+object PrefixExpression {
+  case class Nummy(expand : String) {
+    def unary_- : Nummy = Nummy(s"-$this")
+    def unary_~ : Nummy = Nummy(s"~$this")
+    def unary_! : Nummy = Nummy(s"!$this")
+    def unary_+ : Nummy = Nummy(s"+$this")
+  }
+  object N extends Nummy("N")
+  val n1 = -N
+  val n2 = ~N
+  val n3 = !N
+  val n4 = +N
+}
+object NonExistingPrefixTypes {
+  trait unary_-[A]
+  trait unary_~[A]
+  trait unary_![A]
+  trait unary_+[A]
+  trait N
+  type N1 = -N //Not working
+  type N2 = ~N //Not working
+  type N3 = !N //Not working
+  type N4 = +N //Not working
+}
+```
+
+---
+## Proposal
+The proposal is split into two; type infix precedence, and prefix unary types. Note to the SIP committee: It might be better to vote on the two parts separately.   
+
+### Proposal, Part 1: Infix type precedence & associativity
+Make infix types conform to the same precedence and associativity traits as expression operations.
+### Proposal, Part 2: Prefix unary types
+Add prefix types, exactly as specified for prefix expression. 
+
+
+---
+## Motivation
+The general motivation is developers expect terms and types to behave equally regarding operation precedence and availability of unary types.
+
+### Motivating examples
+#### Dotty infix type similarity
+Dotty infix type associativity and precedence seem to act the same as expressions. 
+No documentation available to prove this, but the infix example above works perfectly in dotty.
+
+Dotty has no prefix types, same as Scalac.
+
+#### Singleton-ops library example
+The [singleton-ops library](https://github.com/fthomas/singleton-ops) with [Typelevel Scala](https://github.com/typelevel/scala) (which implemented [SIP-23](http://docs.scala-lang.org/sips/pending/42.type.html)) enables developers to express literal type operations more intuitively. 
+For example: 
+```scala
+import singleton.ops._
+
+val four1 : 4 = implicitly[2 + 2]
+val four2 : 2 + 2 = 4
+val four3 : 1 + 3 = implicitly[2 + 2]
+
+class MyVec[L] {
+  def doubleSize = new MyVec[2 * L]
+  def nSize[N] = new MyVec[N * L]
+}
+object MyVec {
+  implicit def apply[L](implicit check : Require[L > 0]) : MyVec[L] = new MyVec[L]()
+}
+val myVec : MyVec[10] = MyVec[4 + 1].doubleSize
+val myBadVec = MyVec[-1] //fails compilation, as required
+```  
+We currently loose some of the intuitive appeal due to the precedence issue:
+```scala
+val works : 1 + (2 * 3) + 4 = 11
+val fails : 1 + 2 * 3 + 4 = 11 //left associative:(((1+2)*3)+4))) = 13
+```
+
+#### Developer issues example
+The following stackoverflow question demonstrate developers are 'surprised' by the difference in infix precedence, expecting infix type precedence to act the same as expression operations.
+http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23333882/scala-infix-type-aliasing-for-2-type-parameters
+
+
+
+## Interactions with other language features
+
+#### Variance Annotation
+Variance annotation uses the `-` and `+` symbols to annotate contravariant and covariant subtyping, respectively. Introducing unary prefix types may lead to some developer confusion.
+E.g.
+```scala
+trait Negate[A]
+trait Positive[A]
+type unary_-[A] = Negate[A] 
+type unary_+[A] = Positive[A] 
+trait Contravariant[B, -A <: -B] //contravariant A subtype upper-bounded by Negate[B]
+trait Covariant[B, +A <: +B] //covariant A subtype upper-bounded by Positive[B]
+```
+
+#### Negative Literal Types
+Negative literal types are annotated using the `-` symbol. This can lead to the following confusion:
+```scala
+trait Negate[A]
+type unary_-[A] = Negate[A] 
+trait MyTrait[B]
+
+type MinusFortyTwo = MyTrait[-42] 
+type NegateFortyTwo = MyTrait[Negate[42]]
+```
+The above example demonstrates a case of two types `MinusFortyTwo` and `NegateFortyTwo` which are different. They may be equivalent in view (implicit conversion between the two type instances), but they are not equal.
+
+Note: It is not possible to annotate a positive literal type in Scala (checked both in TLS and Dotty):
+```scala
+val a : 42 = +42 //works
+val b : -42 = -42 //works
+val c : +42 = 42 //error: ';' expected but integer literal found 
+```
+This means that if unary prefix types are added, then `+42` will be a type expansion of `unary_+[42]`.
+
+---
+
+## Backward Compatibility
+Changing infix type associativity and precedence affects code that uses type operations and conforms to the current specification.
+
+---
+
+### Bibliography
+[Scala Contributors](https://contributors.scala-lang.org/t/sip-nn-make-infix-type-alias-precedence-like-expression-operator-precedence/471)
+
+[scala-sips](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/scala-sips/ARVf1RLDw9U)