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spec: typeparams: method calls do not implicitly dereference pointer-to-TypeParams #47031

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mdempsky opened this issue Jul 2, 2021 · 6 comments

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@mdempsky
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mdempsky commented Jul 2, 2021

This test program exercises whether implicit dereference of pointer-to-type-parameter is allowed in a method call: https://go2goplay.golang.org/p/0C-j_EutS4c

go/types and cmd/compile/internal/types2 both accept it, but then go2go, cmd/compile -G=3, and cmd/compile unified all produce a "calling method M with receiver p (type **MyMer) requires explicit dereference" error during code generation.

A similar issue affects instantiating type parameters with interface types: https://go2goplay.golang.org/p/-vWtl3FTslw. (Here go2go and unified both report "p.M undefined (type *Mer is pointer to interface, not interface)"; -G=3 hits an assertion failure.)

What's the expected behavior here? Should go/types reject these cases as invalid, or do the compilers need to insert the implicit dereference? I don't see anything mentioned about this in the proposal.

My intuition is these are invalid, and go/types should reject them. Type parameter types act like interface types, and we don't allow implicit dereference of pointer-to-interface-type values in method calls.

/cc @griesemer @ianlancetaylor @findleyr @bcmills

@mdempsky mdempsky added the NeedsDecision Feedback is required from experts, contributors, and/or the community before a change can be made. label Jul 2, 2021
@mdempsky mdempsky added this to the Go1.18 milestone Jul 2, 2021
@griesemer
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I would agree with this assessment.

@gopherbot
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Change https://golang.org/cl/332609 mentions this issue: [dev.typeparams] cmd/compile/internal/types2: don't permit method calls on ptr to type parameter receivers

gopherbot pushed a commit that referenced this issue Jul 7, 2021
…ls on ptr to type parameter receivers

Simplify the implementation of asInterface while at it.

For #47031.

Change-Id: Ie7d4fbbab898d961ed3c0b7772ba9604641be13f
Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/go/+/332609
Trust: Robert Griesemer <gri@golang.org>
Reviewed-by: Robert Findley <rfindley@google.com>
@bcmills
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bcmills commented Jul 8, 2021

For this example, note that since you can instantiate T with Mer itself, it is possible for T to be an interface type in this case: https://go2goplay.golang.org/p/KprMnRIinWV

I think an implicit dereference of *T should be allowed if T is constrained to only concrete types (no pointer or interface types), and an implicit dereference of T itself should be allowed if T is constrained to only pointer types (no value or interface types). But those cases are probably rare enough that it's not a huge deal if we spuriously reject them too.

@mdempsky
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mdempsky commented Jul 8, 2021

I'm similarly okay with allowing implicit dereference of pointer-to-TypeParam as long as the TypeParam is constrained to disallow instantiation as an interface type; but similarly skeptical that it's important enough to prioritize for Go 1.18.

This seems like something worth revisiting if/when we extend generics to better support pointer-receiver parameters: https://go.googlesource.com/proposal/+/refs/heads/master/design/43651-type-parameters.md#no-way-to-require-pointer-methods

@griesemer
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Decision: For Go 1.18 at least we are not going to permit implicit dereferencing of pointer-to-type-parameter types.
Leaving open so we can be sure this is incorporated into the spec as such.

@griesemer griesemer added Documentation and removed NeedsDecision Feedback is required from experts, contributors, and/or the community before a change can be made. labels Oct 28, 2021
@griesemer griesemer changed the title spec: typeparams: clarify whether method calls are allowed to implicitly dereference pointer-to-TypeParams spec: typeparams: method calls do not implicitly dereference pointer-to-TypeParams Oct 28, 2021
@griesemer
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Since the underlying types of type parameters are their constraint interfaces, the rules here fall out from what we already have (at least for now): pointers to interfaces don't have any methods. It seems that there's no need to explicitly document this is in the spec. Closing.

@golang golang locked and limited conversation to collaborators Jun 23, 2023
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