Correctly handle generic functions (e.g.: `Object.freeze`) passed as callbacks to generic functions (e.g.: `Array.prototype.map`)

[ExE-Boss]

Suggestion

🔍 Search Terms

• array map generic callback
• object.freeze array map

✅ Viability Checklist

My suggestion meets these guidelines:

• This wouldn't be a breaking change in existing TypeScript/JavaScript code
• This wouldn't change the runtime behavior of existing JavaScript code
• This could be implemented without emitting different JS based on the types of the expressions
• This isn't a runtime feature (e.g. library functionality, non-ECMAScript syntax with JavaScript output, new syntax sugar for JS, etc.)
• This feature would agree with the rest of TypeScript's Design Goals.

⭐ Suggestion

A generic transforming function (e.g.: Object.freeze) passed as a callback to a generic mapping function (such as Array.prototype.map), should be handled similarly to an arrow function with inferred types.

📃 Motivating Example

From engine262/src/engine.mjs:

// @target: ES2015
// @filename: index.ts
export const FEATURES = Object.freeze([
//                 ^?
	{
		name: 'Top-Level Await',
		flag: 'top-level-await',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/proposal-top-level-await',
	},
	{
		name: 'Hashbang Grammar',
		flag: 'hashbang',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/proposal-hashbang',
	},
	{
		name: 'RegExp Match Indices',
		flag: 'regexp-match-indices',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/proposal-regexp-match-indices',
	},
	{
		name: 'FinalizationRegistry.prototype.cleanupSome',
		flag: 'cleanup-some',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/proposal-cleanup-some',
	},
	{
		name: 'Arbitrary Module Namespace Names',
		flag: 'arbitrary-module-namespace-names',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/ecma262/pull/2154',
	},
	{
		name: 'At Method',
		flag: 'at-method',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/proposal-item-method',
	},
].map(Object.freeze));

Workbench Repro

Expected type:

export const FEATURES: readonly {
	readonly name: string;
	readonly flag: string;
	readonly url: string;
}[];

Like when using an arrow function:

// @target: ES2015
// @filename: index.ts
export const ARROW_FEATURES = Object.freeze([
//                       ^?
	{
		name: 'Top-Level Await',
		flag: 'top-level-await',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/proposal-top-level-await',
	},
	{
		name: 'Hashbang Grammar',
		flag: 'hashbang',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/proposal-hashbang',
	},
	{
		name: 'RegExp Match Indices',
		flag: 'regexp-match-indices',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/proposal-regexp-match-indices',
	},
	{
		name: 'FinalizationRegistry.prototype.cleanupSome',
		flag: 'cleanup-some',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/proposal-cleanup-some',
	},
	{
		name: 'Arbitrary Module Namespace Names',
		flag: 'arbitrary-module-namespace-names',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/ecma262/pull/2154',
	},
	{
		name: 'At Method',
		flag: 'at-method',
		url: 'https://github.com/tc39/proposal-item-method',
	},
].map((feature) => Object.freeze(feature)));

Workbench Repro

Actual type:

export const FEATURES: readonly Readonly<unknown>[];

💻 Use Cases

Getting correct type inference for JavaScript code on the wild web.

Related issues

• Support readonly type operator to allow correct definition of Object.freeze #10725

[jsmart523]

Another example:

type Widget = {name:string};

const widgets: Widget[] = [
  {name: 'gear'},
  {name: 'bearing'},
  {name: 'axle'}
];

const workingReadonlyWidgets = Readonly<Widget>[] = widgets.map(
  w => Object.freeze(w)
);

const brokenReadonlyWidgets = Readonly<Widget>[] = widgets.map(
  Object.freeze
); // this line complains

[typescript-bot]

👋 Hi, I'm the Repro bot. I can help narrow down and track compiler bugs across releases! This comment reflects the current state of the repro in the issue body running against the nightly TypeScript.

---

Issue body code block by @ExE-Boss

⚠️ Assertions:

• const FEATURES: readonly Readonly[]

Historical Information

Version	Reproduction Outputs
4.2.2, 4.3.2, 4.4.2, 4.5.2, 4.6.2	⚠️ Assertions: const FEATURES: readonly Readonly[]