Zax Programming Language
Mutability
A mutable type is a type that can have its contents modified after a type has been instantiated. An immutable type is a type whose contents cannot be modified once a type is constructed (and immutability is enforced by a compiler). A pliable variable overrides a type’s constant or inconstant qualifier.
An unpliable variable will respect a type’s constant or inconstant qualifier (and makes no promise otherwise). Variables are defaulted and implicitly declared as unpliable and declaring variables as pliable is rarely done when a variable is declared. An unpliable variable is not the same concept as an immutable type. For variables, pliability affects if a type’s constant qualifier is respected or not. Whereas a type’s immutability indicates if contents of a type can be modified or not. A pliable variable indicates that a type’s constant qualifier should be ignored, but unpliable on a variable indicates that a type’s constant qualifier should be respected.
A constant type qualifier is a promise not to modify any contents of a normally mutable type or varies variable, which is enforced by a compiler. An inconstant type indicates a mutable type’s contents may be modified. A function declared as constant inside a type is a promise that a function will not modify a type’s mutable contents, which is enforced by a compiler. A function declared as inconstant inside a type is an announcement that a function may modify a type’s mutable contents.
A constant / inconstant type qualifier and a varies / final variable declaration have no affect on immutable contents. By convention, immutable types can never have their value or contained contents modified thus a constant promise not to modify a type that already can’t be modified has no meaning. Likewise, inconstant cannot be applied to immutable types as an immutable type can never be modified. All immutable types are constant and final once constructed. Further, varies, pliable, and unpliable variable declarations on immutable types have no affect because immutable types can never be modified (even by attempting to override a type’s constant promise by using a pliable variable declaration).
A final variable is not allowed to change its immediate value once instantiated, which is enforced by a compiler. A final variables makes no promise about any mutable contents contained within a variable’s type, and only applies to the immediate a variable’s immediate value. A varies variable allows mutable and inconstant type’s immediate value to be changed (and mutable and inconstant contained contents are allowed to be changed regardless if a variable is declares as final or varies).
A mutable type can be passed into functions which accept a mutable type as a constant type. A constant argument denies further modification of a type’s value and contained contents, which is enforced by a compiler.
Quick lookup guide (type qualifiers):
mutable // (default) values and contents inside a type are modifiable
immutable // all values are `final` once constructed regardless of a
// type's underlying inherent mutability
constant // values and contents of a `mutable` type are disallowed to be
// modified (has no applicability for `immutable` types which
// are effectively always `constant`)
constant // when applied to a function, a function promises to not modify
// any contents within a type (and a `constant` qualifier is
// ignored if `pliable` is used on a variable)
inconstant // (default) values and contents of a `mutable` type are allowed
// to be modified (has no applicability for `immutable` types
// which are effectively always `constant`)
inconstant // (default) when applied to a function, a function declares it
// may modify any `mutable` contents within a type
Mutually exclusive:
immutable vs mutable // ability modify contents a type's value and contents
// post construction
constant vs inconstant // a promise not to modify of a type's value or contents
// (except for `immutable` types which are always
// `constant`, and `constant` can be overridden using a
// `pliable` declaration on a variable)
constant vs inconstant // when applied to a function, declaration of a
// function's intent to modify a `type`'s contained
// values (or not)
Quick lookup guide (variable declarations):
pliable // value and contents of a `mutable` `type` can be changed
// even if a `type` is declared `constant` (although has
// no affect on `immutable` types as immutable types can never
// be modified)
unpliable // (default) causes a variable to respect a `constant` or
// `inconstant` `type` qualifier on `mutable` types (i.e.
// opposite behavior of `pliable`)
// NOTE: rarely used unless a default `unpliable` declaration
// is overridden with a `variables` compiler directive
final // a variable which receives its final value once constructed
// (but makes no promise not to modify any contents of any
// contained values within a `type`)
varies // (default) a variable which is allowed to have its value
// change over time (and makes no promise about contents of any
// contained values within the value); `varies` has no affect
// on `constant` or `immutable` types which can not have their
// value changed (unless `constant` is overridden with a
// `pliable` declaration)
// NOTE: rarely used unless a default `varies` is overridden
// with a `variables` compiler directive
Mutually exclusive:
final vs varies // ability to change a variable's value once initialized
// but in both cases makes no promise about a `type`'s
// contained contents (but all `constant` and
// `immutable` types are always considered `final`)
pliable vs unpliable // ability modify the value and contents of a `type`
// (regardless if a `type` is `constant` or not)
By default types are both mutable and immutable
Declaring a type without mutable or immutable qualifiers causes a type to support both mutable and immutable instances. The default mutability of a type is mutable if a type is both mutable and immutable. The default mutability for type can be specified, and overridden with explicit qualifiers on instantiation if a type allows for an alternative mutability.
// type supports both `mutable` and `immutable` forms and defaults as `mutable`
MyType :: type {
value1 : Integer = 42
value2 : String = "life"
}
myType1 : MyType // pick the `default` mutability for the type
// (which in this case is `mutable`)
myType2 : MyType mutable // pick the `mutable` version of a type
myType3 : MyType immutable // pick the `immutable` version of the type
myType4 : MyType constant // pick the `default` mutability for the type
// but force the type to be in a `constant`
// state
myType1.value1 = 30 // allowed
myType1.value2 = "meaning" // allowed
myType2 = myType1 // allowed
myType3.value1 = 30 // ERROR: type is `immutable` and cannot change
// its contents
myType3 = myType1 // ERROR: type is `immutable` and cannot change
// its contents
myType4.value1 = 30 // ERROR: type is `mutable` and `constant`
// cannot change its contents
myType1 = myType3 // allowed (source is `immutable` but the
// destination is `mutable`)
constant functions and mutability
Functions that are not qualified as constant are not callable if a type is instantiated using an immutable type.
print final : ()(...) = {
// ...
}
MyType :: type {
value1 : Integer = 42
value2 : String = "life"
func1 final : ()(value : Integer) = {
// ...
value1 = value
// ...
}
func2 final : ()(value : Integer) = {
// ...
print("Are these the same? ", value1, value, " ... you decide...")
// ...
}
}
myType1 : MyType // pick the `default` mutability for the type
// (which in this case is `mutable`)
myType2 : MyType mutable // pick the `mutable` version of a type
myType3 : MyType immutable // pick the `immutable` version of the type
myType4 : MyType constant // pick the `default` mutability for the type but
// force the type to be in a `constant` state
myType1.func1(1) // allowed
myType1.func2(-1) // allowed
myType2.func1(10) // allowed
myType2.func2(-10) // allowed
myType3.func1(20) // ERROR: Cannot call function as the function
// is missing `constant` declaration
myType3.func2(-20) // allowed
myType4.func1(20) // ERROR: Cannot call function as the type is
// `mutable` but `constant`
myType4.func2(-20) // allowed
Separate mutable and immutable types
Type implementations can have vastly different implementations of mutable and immutable types. This allows for optimizations in each type that is better suited based on a type’s mutability. One drawback to different implementations would be that conversion from immutable to mutable would require additional overhead logic. This tradeoff may be acceptable depending on usage patterns.
MyType :: type mutable {
count : Integer
capacity : Integer // capacity may only be applicable to a `mutable`
// type since only a changing type could require
// additional capacity
// ...
}
MyType :: type immutable {
count : Integer
// no variable named `capacity` in the `immutable` version
// ...
}
myType1 : MyType // pick the `default` mutability for the type
// (which in this case is `mutable`)
myType2 : MyType mutable // pick the `mutable` version of a type
myType3 : MyType immutable // pick the `immutable` version of the type
myType4 : MyType constant // pick the `default` mutability for the type
// but force the type to be `constant`
Using default to specify a default mutability
A type by default will choose a mutable version of a type’s implementation unless a programmer overrides a default mutability of a type. A default keyword can be used to change a default assumption if a type is mutable or immutable when a type is instantiated where no mutability qualification is specified.
Using default to specify a default mutability with distinct types
If a type has a mutable and immutable version, one of the two type qualifiers can be marked as default to indicate which mutability qualified type is instantiated by default (when neither mutability qualifier is specified at instantiation).
MyType :: type mutable {
// ...
}
MyType :: type immutable default {
// ...
}
myType1 : MyType // pick the `default` mutability for the type
// (which in this case is `immutable`)
myType2 : MyType mutable // pick the `mutable` version of a type
myType3 : MyType immutable // pick the `immutable` version of the type
myType4 : MyType constant // pick the `default` mutability for the type
// which is `immutable` and thus `constant` is
// ignored
Using default to specify a default mutability with combined types
If a type has dual support for mutable and immutable, a type has a default mutability of mutable. However, default mutability qualification can be explicit. One of the two mutability type qualifiers can be marked as default to indicate which mutability qualification is selected by default (when neither mutability qualifier is specified at instantiation).
Since a type is by default mutable when both mutability qualifiers are supported, explicit defaulting of the mutable qualifier is unnecessary and redundant (unless the default mutability qualification was overridden with the types compiler directive). A default keyword is placed after a keyword mutable or immutable qualifier to indicate which of the two mutability qualifiers is an appropriate default.
// indicate a `type` implementation supports a `mutable` and `immutable`
// qualification and the `default` is specified as `immutable`
MyType :: type mutable immutable default {
// ...
}
myType1 : MyType // pick the `default` mutability for the `type`
// (which in this case is `immutable`)
myType2 : MyType mutable // pick the `mutable` version of a `type`
myType3 : MyType immutable // pick the `immutable` version of the `type`
myType4 : MyType constant // pick the `default` mutability for the `type`
// (which is `immutable` and thus `constant` is
// ignored)
Types only supporting mutable or immutable
While by default a type is declared to dual support both mutable and immutable type qualifiers, a type can specify to only support one of two mutability qualifiers. In such a case, if a programmer uses a type and only declares support for one mutability then only that mutability qualifier is supported. Attempting to instantiate a type with an unsupported mutability will cause a type-mutability-qualifier-not-supported error. A default keyword is not necessary (and redundant) when only one of two mutability qualifiers is supported.
MyType :: type immutable {
// ...
}
myType1 : MyType // pick the `default` mutability for the type
// (which in this case must be `immutable`)
myType2 : MyType mutable // ERROR: `mutable` type is unsupported
myType3 : MyType immutable // pick the `immutable` version of the `type`
myType4 : MyType constant // pick the `default` mutability for the `type`
// (which must be `immutable` and thus
// `constant` is ignored)
immutable and mutable composition
As a mutable and immutable type can be entirely different implementations, each type is allowed to contain the other as a self contained type. This can be used to allow for one implementation to borrow attributes in another implementation through standard composition mechanisms.
MyType :: type mutable {
// ...
}
MyType :: type immutable default {
// the implementation of the `immutable` version borrows the implementation
// of the `mutable` version (where non `constant` functions become
// inaccessible)
contain own : MyType mutable
}
myType1 : MyType // pick the `default` mutability for the `type`
// (which in this case is `immutable`)
myType2 : MyType mutable // pick the `mutable` version of the `type`
myType3 : MyType immutable // pick the `immutable` version of the `type`
myType4 : MyType constant // pick the `default` mutability for the `type`
// (which is `immutable` and thus `constant` is
// ignored)
Automatic conversion of qualifiers
Automatic conversion of qualifiers when type supports both qualifiers
When a type supports both mutable and immutable within type’s definition, a conversion from mutable to immutable or constant is automatic (although the reverse direction is not allowed).
MyType :: type {
// ...
}
// accept the default mutability of a `type` (which is `mutable`)
func1 final : ()(value : MyType &) = {
// ...
}
// accept the `mutable` version of a `type`
func2 final : ()(value : MyType mutable &) = {
// ...
}
// accept the `immutable` version of a `type`
func3 final : ()(value : MyType immutable &) = {
// ...
}
// accept a `constant` version of a `mutable` `type`
func4 final : ()(value : MyType constant &) = {
// ...
}
myType1 : MyType // pick the `default` mutability for the `type`
// (which in this case is `mutable`)
myType2 : MyType mutable // pick the `mutable` version of the `type`
myType3 : MyType immutable // pick the `immutable` version of the `type`
myType4 : MyType constant // pick the `default` mutability for the `type`
// (which is `mutable` but make the `type`
// `constant`)
// `mutable` `type` passed into four function variations
func1(myType1) // allowed
func2(myType1) // allowed
func3(myType1) // allowed
func4(myType1) // allowed
// `mutable` `type` passed into four function variations
func1(myType2) // allowed
func2(myType2) // allowed
func3(myType2) // allowed
func4(myType2) // allowed
// `immutable` `type` passed into four function variations
func1(myType3) // ERROR: `func1` expects a `mutable` type
func2(myType3) // ERROR: `func2` expects a `mutable` type
func3(myType3) // allowed
func4(myType3) // ERROR: `func4` expects an a `mutable` but
// `constant` type
func2(myType3 as mutable) // ERROR: `myType3` cannot be safely
// converted as `mutable`
func2(myType3 unsafe as mutable) // UNSAFE: `myType3` is stripped of its
// `immutable` qualification
func2(myType4 as mutable) // ERROR: `myType4` was `mutable` and it
// remains `constant`
func2(myType4 unsafe as mutable) // ERROR: `myType4` was `mutable` and it
// remains `constant`
func2(myType4 as inconstant) // ERROR: `myType4` cannot be safely
// converted as `inconstant`
func2(myType4 unsafe as inconstant) // UNSAFE: `myType4` is stripped of its
// `constant` qualification
// constant type passed into four function variations
func1(myType4) // ERROR: `func1` expects a non-`constant` type
func2(myType4) // ERROR: `func2` expects a non-`constant` type
func3(myType4) // allowed
func4(myType4) // allowed
Automatic conversion of qualifiers when two different implementations of mutability exists
When a type supports both mutable and immutable qualifiers except with two different type implementations, conversion between mutable, immutable, and constant is only automatic for some conversions. Other conversions will fail or require a use of an as operator with special conversion logic.
MyType :: type mutable {
value : VeryUniqueTypeA
// ...
}
MyType :: type immutable {
value : VeryUniqueTypeB
// ...
}
// accept the default mutability of a `type` (which is `mutable`)
func1 final : ()(value : MyType &) = {
// ...
}
// accept the `mutable` version of a `type`
func2 final : ()(value : MyType mutable &) = {
// ...
}
// accept the `immutable` version of a `type`
func3 final : ()(value : MyType immutable &) = {
// ...
}
// accept a `constant` version of a `mutable` `type`
func4 final : ()(value : MyType constant &) = {
// ...
}
myType1 : MyType // pick the `default` mutability for the `type`
// (which in this case is `mutable`)
myType2 : MyType mutable // pick the `mutable` version of the `type`
myType3 : MyType immutable // pick the `immutable` version of the `type`
myType4 : MyType constant // pick the `default` mutability for the `type`
// which is `mutable` but make the `type`
// `constant`
// mutable type passed into four function variations
func1(myType1) // allowed
func2(myType1) // allowed
func3(myType1) // ERROR: `func3` expects a `immutable` `type`
// and the `mutable` `type` is incompatible
func4(myType1) // allowed
// mutable type passed into four function variations
func1(myType2) // allowed
func2(myType2) // allowed
func3(myType2) // ERROR: `func3` expects a `immutable` `type`
// and the `mutable` `type` is incompatible
func4(myType2) // allowed
// immutable type passed into four function variations
func1(myType3) // ERROR: `func1` expects a `mutable` `type`
func2(myType3) // ERROR: `func2` expects a `mutable` `type`
func3(myType3) // allowed
func4(myType3) // ERROR: `func2` expects a
// `constant` `mutable` `type`
func2(myType3 as mutable) // ERROR: `myType3` cannot be safely
// converted as `mutable`
func2(myType3 unsafe as mutable) // ERROR: `myType3` has no conversion to a
// `mutable` version even using `unsafe as`
// (would need to be treated as a raw
// pointer cast which would have undefined
// behavior)
func2(myType4 as mutable) // ERROR: `myType4` was `mutable` and it
// remains `constant`
func2(myType4 unsafe as mutable) // ERROR: `myType4` was `mutable` and it
// remains `constant`
func2(myType4 as inconstant) // ERROR: `myType4` cannot be safely
// converted as `inconstant`
func2(myType4 unsafe as inconstant) // UNSAFE: `myType4` is `mutable` and
// `unsafe as` would strip the `constant`
// qualification
// constant type passed into four function variations
func1(myType4) // ERROR: `func1` expects a non-`constant` type
func2(myType4) // ERROR: `func2` expects a non-`constant` type
func3(myType4) // ERROR: `func3` expects a `immutable` type
func4(myType4) // allowed
Conversion using an as operator
When a type supports both mutable and immutable except with two different type implementations, a conversion from one implementation to another using the as operator is required where accepting the other qualifier form would not be legal.
Important caveat: even though adding an as operator to convert from immutable to mutable is allowed, a returned converted type will be a temporary copy which will result in any modified contents of a mutable type being discarded when the temporary is discarded (since changes are applied to a temporary value and not the original immutable version).
MyType :: type mutable {
// ...
operator binary 'as' final : (result : MyType immutable)(# : MyType immutable) constant = {
// ...
}
}
MyType :: type immutable {
// ...
operator binary 'as' final : (result : MyType mutable)(# : MyType mutable constant) constant = {
// ...
}
}
// accept the `default` mutability of a `type` (which is `mutable`)
func1 final : ()(value : MyType &) = {
// ...
}
// accept the `mutable` version of a `type`
func2 final : ()(value : MyType mutable &) = {
// ...
}
// accept the `immutable` version of a `type`
func3 final : ()(value : MyType immutable &) = {
// ...
}
// accept a `constant` version of a `mutable` `type`
func4 final : ()(value : MyType constant &) = {
// ...
}
myType1 : MyType // pick the `default` mutability for the `type`
// (which in this case is `mutable`)
myType2 : MyType mutable // pick the `mutable` version of the `type`
myType3 : MyType immutable // pick the `immutable` version of the `type`
myType4 : MyType constant // pick the `default` mutability for the `type`
// which is `mutable` but make the `type`
// `constant`
// mutable type passed into four function variations
func1(myType1) // allowed
func2(myType1) // allowed
func3(myType1 as immutable) // allowed
func4(myType1) // allowed
// mutable type passed into four function variations
func1(myType2) // allowed
func2(myType2) // allowed
func3(myType2 as immutable) // allowed
func4(myType2) // allowed
// immutable type passed into four function variations
func1(myType3 as mutable) // allowed
func2(myType3 as mutable) // allowed
func3(myType3) // allowed
func4(myType3 as mutable) // allowed
// constant type passed into four function variations
func1(myType4 as mutable) // ERROR: `func1` expects a non-`constant` type
// and the `type` is already `mutable`
func2(myType4 as mutable) // ERROR: `func2` expects a non-`constant` type
// and the `type` is already `mutable`
func3(myType4 as immutable) // OKAY - the `mutable` is converted to
// an `immutable` `type` by the `as` operator;
// the `constant` qualifier becomes redundant
func4(myType4) // allowed
mutable variables
Variables contained with types qualified as immutable or constant cannot have their values changed. In both of these cases, not changing contained values is both a promise and enforced by a compiler. However, cases do exist where a variable might need its contents changed despite promising contents of a type do not change.
To circumvent a compiler’s enforcement of non-changeable contained types, a mutable keyword must be declared on a variable inside a type’s definition. Declaring a variable as mutable is not the same as declaring a type as mutable. A variable declared as mutable implies a type’s variable will be treated as non-constant even if the calling function is executed in a from constant function or from within an immutable type.
A variable can be declared mutable entirely separate from a type’s mutability. For example, mutable variable could be a pointer type to an immutable type named SomeType, i.e. variable mutable : SomeType immutable *.
Using mutable should be done with extreme caution as memory backing a type might change when code was expecting a type’s contents to never change. Some values inside a type might be implicitly mutable despite being inside an immutable type. An example would be handle or strong pointers which maintain reference counts in a control block which may be technically contained within the memory space of a type’s instance. Thus a C style memcpy of a type’s instance might encounter changing memory data for an instance despite an immutable type being used (should features like mutable, handle, or strong pointers be used).
MyType :: type {
value1 mutable : Integer
value2 : String
func1 final : ()() = {
// ...
}
func2 final : ()() constant = {
// ...
++value1 // allowed as `value1` is `mutable`
// despite the `constant` qualifier
value2 = "hi" // ERROR: value2 cannot be modified
}
}
// accept the `mutable` version of a type
func1 final : ()(value : MyType mutable &) = {
++value.value1 // allowed
value.value2 = "howdy" // allowed
}
// accept the `immutable` version of a type
func2 final : ()(value : MyType immutable &) = {
++value.value1 // allowed as `value` is `mutable`
// despite the `immutable` qualifier
value.value2 = "hiya" // ERROR: `value2` is `immutable`
}
// accept a `constant` version of a `mutable` type
func3 final : ()(value : MyType constant &) = {
++value.value1 // allowed as `value` is `mutable`
// despite the `constant` qualifier
value.value2 = "hiya" // ERROR: `value2` is `constant`
}
Mutability of String types
Zax declares all String types as mutable by default.
Thread safety with immutable
A type declared as immutable is not necessarily thread-safe (although making a type immutable can help with thread concurrency issues). A reference to an object on a different thread could exist when the original object becomes deallocated. A type declared as immutable may only contain other immutable types, but that type might contain a handle, or a pointer or other declarations which are not inherently thread-safe.
For immutable types with shared state between instances (e.g. an String immutable type), a deep qualifier can help ensure a deep copy of a type is performed prior a value being copied and passed to another thread. See the concurrency section for more details.