Data classes

[Mark Raynsford]

On 2017-11-01T14:53:40 -0400
Brian Goetz <brian.goetz at oracle.com> wrote:

> At the following URL, please find a writeup containing our current 
> thoughts on Data Classes for Java:
> 
>      http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~briangoetz/amber/datum.html
> 
> Comments welcome!
> 
> We'll be making a prototype available soon for folks to play with.

This looks great!

One thing springs to mind with the accessors: Is it possible that the
generated accessor methods could participate in the implementation of
interfaces? For example:

  interface Vector
  {
    double x();
    double y();
    double z();
  }

  __data class Vector3 (double x, double y, double z)
    implements Vector { }

The Vector3 type would automatically get x(), y(), and z() methods
based on the field declarations. This may imply, of course, that the
fields are public by default.

I don't see any obvious reasons why this couldn't work, but you've
almost certainly thought further than I have on the subject.

-- 
Mark Raynsford | http://www.io7m.com