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                  josevalim
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									<span>Creator of Elixir</span>
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<img alt="" width="24" height="24" src="https://forum.elixirforum.com/user_avatar/forum.elixirforum.com/lud/48/14382_2.png" class="avatar"> lud:</div>
<blockquote>
<p>My point is that a type system needs to see functions as a whole ('cause you cannot chose a specific function clause to call from the outside – by other matters than passing the right arguments of course).</p>
</blockquote>
</aside>
<p>Correct. There are several reasons for not inlining type annotations and you touched two of them:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Elixir already supports default arguments and pattern matching in signatures, adding a third component will make it confusing and hard to read, and your example shows it well</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>By keeping them together, it would be very easy to conflate implementation with specification. For example, if you accidentally remove one of the clauses while refactoring the <code>hostname</code> function, then type checking may still succeed. After all, if you keeping implementation and specification together, then you can accidentally remove both, and you won’t have a specification to catch such mistakes</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>You already posted a good example, let me post another one.</p>
<hr>
<p>For example, imagine you are doing a payment integration that returns one of the following statuses:</p>
<pre data-code-wrap="elixir"><code class="lang-elixir">$ type payment_status = :trial | {:success, metadata} | {:overdue, metadata}
</code></pre>
<p>You must likely have a function today that deals with those statuses like this:</p>
<pre data-code-wrap="elixir"><code class="lang-elixir">def log_payment_status(:trial) do
  ...
end

def log_payment_status({:success, metadata}) do
  ...
end

def log_payment_status({:overdue, metadata}) do
  ...
end
</code></pre>
<p>One of the goals of the type system is to allow us to say that, if we add a new payment status, the code above should emit a warning. In this case, it doesn’t make sense to annotate inline, because each clause only handles part of the payments, and you want to guarantee it handles all statuses as a whole:</p>
<pre data-code-wrap="elixir"><code class="lang-elixir">$ payment_status() -&gt; ...
def log_payment_status(:trial) do
def log_payment_status({:success, metadata}) do
def log_payment_status({:overdue, metadata}) do
</code></pre>
<p>If we only had inline annotations, then you would be forced to rewrite the code above to this:</p>
<pre data-code-wrap="elixir"><code class="lang-elixir">def log_payment_status(status :: payment_status()) :: ... do
  case status do
    :trial -&gt; ...
    {:success, metadata} -&gt; ...
    {:overdue, metadata} -&gt; ...
  end
end
</code></pre>
<p>Which is fine, but not what we’d write today.</p>
<hr>
<p>Modern and ergonomic is not about copying what other languages do, is about making sure it fits with the existing patterns and idioms in the language. <img src="https://forum.elixirforum.com/images/emoji/apple/slight_smile.png?v=15" title=":slight_smile:" class="emoji" alt=":slight_smile:" loading="lazy" width="20" height="20"></p> 
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								<p>Very good point!</p>
<p>One could argue that if you remove a clause, or call the function with a new payment type, the type system could emit a warning at the call site.</p>
<p>I’d answer that while it’s true, Elixir being a dynamic language it will not always be possible to know the value of the payment type in advance (we got it from <code>String.to_existing_atom</code> maybe). While in/above the function, the type system can figure out all valid code paths.</p> 
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								<p>Thats a stellar example, which also show separation of concern, with one of Erlang’s super power, multiply function clauses.</p>
<p>I think most people that want inline type annotations are coming from those languages and it might be their first time with a BEAM language. If they stay here long enough, they’ll learn that the grass can actually be greener.</p> 
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<p>One could argue that if you remove a clause, or call the function with a new payment type, the type system could emit a warning at the call site.</p>
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<p>Yes, we definitely would! But since we are discussing type annotations, I approached it exclusively from the type annotation angle.</p> 
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<blockquote>
<p>But really my favorite is to separate the thing with a function head:</p>
<pre data-code-wrap="elixir"><code class="lang-elixir">def hostname(uri :: URI.t() | String.t() | nil) :: String.t() | nil

def hostname(%URI{host: host}), do: host
def hostname(url) when is_binary(url), do: hostname(URI.parse(url))
def hostname(nil), do: nil
</code></pre>
</blockquote>
</aside>
<p>I like that more than anything else, but I am still all in for not violating the Elixir 1.19- syntax, which might be achieved with a familiar and easily guessed by any developer module attribute.</p>
<pre data-code-wrap="elixir"><code class="lang-elixir">@def hostname(uri :: URI.t() | String.t() | nil) :: String.t() | nil

# normal head, if desired
def hostname(arg)

# Implementations
def hostname(%URI{host: host}), do: host
def hostname(url) when is_binary(url), do: hostname(URI.parse(url))
def hostname(nil), do: nil

</code></pre> 
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								<p>With all due respect, but God forbid.</p> 
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								<p>Not only do I like types on their own line, I prefer it.  I also really like the <code>$</code> syntax.  it’s concise while being easy to understand, doesn’t unnecessarily repeat the function name (consistent with every other kind of function annotation), and devoid of the gross <code>::</code>… and I do mean “gross.”  Something about putting spaces around it gives me trypophobia vibes <img src="https://forum.elixirforum.com/images/emoji/apple/anxious_face_with_sweat.png?v=15" title=":anxious_face_with_sweat:" class="emoji" alt=":anxious_face_with_sweat:" loading="lazy" width="20" height="20"></p> 
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								<p><code>::</code> is the type operator in many languages, it feels very natural to me. Honestly I’d rather have <code>$</code> as a valid variable name character for streams or stuff like that.</p> 
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<p><code>::</code> is the type operator in many languages</p>
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<p>Oh I know it is, but it doesn’t change my feelings about it <img src="https://forum.elixirforum.com/images/emoji/apple/grin.png?v=15" title=":grin:" class="emoji" alt=":grin:" loading="lazy" width="20" height="20">  Elixir shirks many norms and that’s one of the reasons I love it.  It’s why I also dislike “familiarity == adoption” arguments.  A couple of such arguments that have actually been made on this forum are 1) overhaul the syntax to use curly braces, and 2) to make it object oriented.</p> 
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								<p>With pattern matching and multi clause function heads, I think having the type annotation in a single fixed location before all of the clauses is the cleaner approach.</p>
<p>And that point I do not care, whether I write <code>$ foo -&gt; bar</code> or a bodyless clause <code>def f(x :: foo()) -&gt; bar()</code> or whatever.</p>
<p>Though indeed I would have prefered if there was a name on the type line that tells me for what it actually is, to get a warning when after “code juggling” annotations get moved away from their functions…</p> 
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