[bitc-dev] BitC Overloading

[Jonathan S. Shapiro]

On Fri, 2005-01-28 at 12:39 +0100, Jørgen Hermanrud Fjeld wrote:
> Hi, 
> I just wondered if you have considered the work on extensional polymorphism 
> by Furuse [1] as a framework for
> overloading?

We haven't, and we will look at it. My guess is that extensional
polymorphism is way too complex for what we are trying to do. If I could
get rid of overloading entirely and still have a language with adequate
support for abstraction, I'ld do it in a heartbeat.

> As far as I understand that would give the programmer explicit control
> over overload resolution, as well as provide static type safety.

Giving the programmer control over overloading in general is definitely
a bad idea. There are certain *kinds* of control that may be okay, but
every "option" available to the user is a multiplication by two of the
semantic complexity of the language.

> Also I wondered work on multi-staging [2] and macros [3]  would be relevant?
> Especially since multi-staging researched fro O'Caml can be statically 
> type checked.

We'll look. Thanks!


shap