Jose Valim: "Elixir is, officially, a gradually typed language"

Looks like there still are caveats:

Screenshot 2024-01-09 at 19.58.211200×1715 110 KB

https://nitter.net/josevalim/status/1744410544424079436#m

Seems like an update that things are moving along well. Exciting!

@josevalim please don’t tell me that what @wojtekmach is saying in the reply to a comment (here: https://nitter.net/wojtekmach/status/1744417556037816321#m) is the actual plan.

If it’s truly the plan to make function headers as unreadable as in C++ or as verbose as in Java I can’t overstate just how bad that’s going to be.

For God sake, PLEASE (with a cherry and sugar on top) keep the typing separate from the function header.

TIA

PS. When in doubt just consider this:

• Elxiir benefits plenty from its readability-minimalism (you should know - you created it)
• Any benefit from its typing is questionable and sacrificing the former at the altar of the latter would be such a shame

This is binary pattern matching syntax. And already exists in elixir if you match out a certain number of bytes in a pattern.

The syntax for functions will be like

$ integer() → integer()
def func(num) when is_integer(num) do
…

Afiak

I understand it’s a binary pattern matching syntax, but please read the Jose’s colleague reply that I linked above.

This line is what I’m referring to:
“It’s a few steps until explicit type syntax appears still though.”

What I am afraid of this means is:
“It’s a few steps until we make it look like C++.”

Wojtek says “no” to that syntax in that reply. I’m not José but nothing he has said suggested we’re going to get that, that would be kind of insane coupled with pattern matching (and I’m with you, I hate it). We should be getting something like what @ONeill just posted.

Yeah, he says that f(myset :: MapSet.t) is not what they are thinking but the final syntax isn’t finalised.

However from streams and talks that have been given on this topic they seem to be in favour of the $ syntax, though obviously things can change as community feedback rolls in

I editing my comment to add context.

I hope I got that line of @wojtekmach wrong.

Yep, at first glance I was also like WTF is that but then realized it’s pattern matching in a binary. Probably not the best example choice by Jose, looks like if you don’t know what it does.

Yeah I did a double take at first I guess it’s just the first part to be implemented, they are doing it gradually