syntax: destructuring structs, tuple structs and tuples should be consistent

[thestinger]

These are minor nitpicks, but they might as well be fixed before it's too late.

struct Foo(int, int, int, int);
struct Bar{a: int, b: int, c: int, d: int};

Ignoring all the fields is inconsistent:

let Foo(*) = Foo(5, 5, 5, 5);
let Bar(_) = Bar{a: 5, b: 5, c: 5, d: 5};

It doesn't seem like it's currently possible to ignore all fields of a regular tuple.

I think this would be nicer:

let Foo(*) = Foo(5, 5, 5, 5);
let Bar(*) = Bar{a: 5, b: 5, c: 5, d: 5};
let (*) = (5, 5, 5, 5);

With a struct, you can ignore "the rest", but you can't with a tuple struct or tuple:

let Bar{b: b, _} = Bar{a: 5, b: 5, c: 5, d: 5};

This would be more consistent, and similar to destructuring fixed-size vectors:

let Foo(a, b, *) = Foo(5, 5, 5, 5);
let Foo(*, d) = Foo(5, 5, 5, 5);
let (a, b, *) = (5, 5, 5, 5);
let (*, c, d) = (5, 5, 5, 5);
let Bar{b: b, *} = Bar{a: 5, b: 5, c: 5, d: 5};

An underscore would mean ignoring one field.

[sethfowler]

Thanks for opening this issue, @thestinger!

[catamorphism]

Nominating for milestone 2, backwards-compatible

[bblum]

this is a great issue; i endorse it

[graydon]

accepted for backwards-compatible milestone

[glaebhoerl]

How about .. instead of *? Already has the matches multiple fields connotation.

[brson]

Here's a more complete test case. The stuff that's not commented out works (and probably shouldn't), and the stuff that's commented out should.

struct Foo(int, int, int, int);
struct Bar{a: int, b: int, c: int, d: int}

fn main() {
    let Foo(*) = Foo(5, 5, 5, 5);
    //let Bar(*) = Bar{a: 5, b: 5, c: 5, d: 5};                                                                                                                                  
    let Bar{_} = Bar{a: 5, b: 5, c: 5, d: 5};
    //let (*) = (5, 5, 5, 5);                                                                                                                                                    
    //let Foo(a, b, *) = Foo(5, 5, 5, 5);                                                                                                                                        
    //let Foo(*, d) = Foo(5, 5, 5, 5);                                                                                                                                           
    //let (a, b, *) = (5, 5, 5, 5);                                                                                                                                              
    //let (*, c, d) = (5, 5, 5, 5);                                                                                                                                              
    //let Bar{b: b, *} = Bar{a: 5, b: 5, c: 5, d: 5};                                                                                                                            
    let Bar{b: b, _} = Bar{a: 5, b: 5, c: 5, d: 5};
    /*match [5, 5, 5, 5] {                                                                                                                                                       
        [a, *] => { }                                                                                                                                                            
    }*/
    /*match [5, 5, 5, 5] {                                                                                                                                                       
        [*, b] => { }                                                                                                                                                            
    }*/
    /*match [5, 5, 5, 5] {                                                                                                                                                       
        [a, *, b] => { }                                                                                                                                                         
    }*/
    match [5, 5, 5] {
        [a, .._] => { }
    }
    match [5, 5, 5] {
        [.._, a] => { }
    }
    match [5, 5, 5] {
        [a, .._, b] => { }
    }
}

[brendanzab]

Tuples:

let Tup(.._) = Tup(1, false);
let (first, second, ..middle, last) = (1, "hi", false, 2, 3.0);
assert_eq!(first, 1);
assert_eq!(second, "hi");
assert_eq!(middle, (false, 2));
assert_eq!(last, 3.0)

Structs:

let Struct { .._ } = Struct { b: true, s: "hi", i: 23, f: 2.0 };

// Error, 'rest' cannot be named in structs
let Struct { x, ..end } = Struct { b: true, s: "hi", i: 23, f: 2.0 };

let Struct { s: s, i: i, .._ } = Struct { b: true, s: "hi", i: 23, f: 2.0 };
assert_eq!(s, "hi");
assert_eq!(i, 2.0);

let Struct { b, s, .._, f } = Struct { b: true, s: "hi", i: 23, f: 2.0 };
assert_eq!(b, true);
assert_eq!(s, "hi");
assert_eq!(f, 2.0);

[brson]

If we wanted to use * as a generic pointer deref pattern it would make the parser simpler to use ...

[brson]

The semantics of using .. for pulling out tuples is complicated. With vectors it's (surely) just a slice.

[brendanzab]

I would also add that for structs its a little ugly, so yeah - not sure. Just an idea.

[brson]

If we did go with .. then I would want just .. to mean 'everything else', not .._.

[brendanzab]

You could just remove the ability you destructure the tail for tuples, and go with:

let (first, second, .., last) = ...;
let Struct { s: s, i: i, .. } = ...;

Either way, going with .. is fits nicer with vector destructuring, and reduces the amount of overloading on *, which is already under strain.

[nikomatsakis]

+1 for ..

For that matter, in vector patterns, we could probably make the _
implicit if the next token is a comma or closing brace etc. i.e.,
[a, b, .., d]

[brson]

I'm going to make the existing syntax consistent with .. and open a separate issue for adding .. to tuples and tuple-structs, since that's a deeper change that I don't know if I want to tackle personally.