Forall

What about generic functions? Or generic values?

We already know about generic types. For example, here’s a typical optional type, as present in many languages:

type Option<a> = either {
  .none!,
  .some a,
}

In Par, generic type definitions use the familiar angle bracket syntax. The parameters to those, such as a for Option<a> may be replaced with anything, such as Option<Int>. The resulting type is, however, always concrete.

Now consider these two definitions:

def None: Option<String> = .none!

dec Swap : [(String, Int)!] (Int, String)!
def Swap = [pair]
  let (first, second)! = pair
  in (second, first)!

Both are defined in terms of concrete types, but don’t use them: .none! is a valid value for any Option<a>, and swapping a pair works regardless of its content.

To make these work with anything, we employ forall types!

In Par, forall types:

• Don’t use angle brackets. Instead they are functions taking types.
• Are not inferred. Calling a generic function requires specifying the types.
• Are first-class! It’s possible to store and pass generic values around, without them losing their genericity.

A forall type consists of two parts: a lower-case type variable enclosed in square brackets, and prefixed with the keyword type, and the result type, which uses this type variable.

dec None : [type a] Option<a>

dec Swap : [type a] [type b] [(a, b)!] (b, a)!

After erasing the previous concrete definitions for None, these will be their generic types. As we can see, these look just like functions, but taking types!

If the result of a forall type is another forall types — like with Swap — we can use syntax sugar to put them both in one pair of square brackets:

dec Swap : [type a, b] [(a, b)!] (b, a)!

This looks better. The two ways are, however, completely equivalent.

Just like functions, foralls are linear. Variables containing them can’t be dropped, nor copied, only destructed by calling.

Construction

Values of forall types are constructed the same way as functions, except the argument is a type variable and prefixed with the keyword type.

Completing the definitions above:

dec None : [type a] Option<a>
def None = [type a] .none!

dec Swap : [type a, b] [(a, b)!] (b, a)!
def Swap = [type a, b] [pair]
  let (first, second)! = pair
  in (second, first)!

A common complaint at this point is: Why do I have to write [type a, b] in both the declaration, and the definition? After all, it doesn’t seem like they’re used in the definition. However, they are! What’s the type of first? It’s a. And second? It’s b. If you called them [type kek, dek], they would be kek and dek. Par’s type checker never makes type names up.

Additionally, if you do end up needing to use those type variables — for example, to call another generic function — they will be right at hand.

Destruction

Using a forall value looks the same as calling a function, except the argument is a concrete type, prefixed with the keyword type.

def NoneInt = None(type Int)  // type inferred as `Option<Int>`

def Pair    = ("Hello!", 42)!
def Swapped = Swap(type String, Int)(Pair)
//          = (42, "Hello!")!