Draft Spec for Third Preview of Pattern Matching for Switch and Record Patterns (JEP 405) now available

[Gavin Bierman]

On 7 Apr 2022, at 20:41, Brian Goetz <brian.goetz at oracle.com<mailto:brian.goetz at oracle.com>> wrote:



http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~gbierman/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns-20220407/specs/patterns-switch-jls.html

Comments welcome!

The execution of an exhaustive switch can fail with a linkage error (an IncompatibleClassChangeError is thrown) if it encounters an instance of a permitted direct subclass that was not known at compile time (14.11.3<http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~gbierman/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns-20220407/specs/patterns-switch-jls.html#jls-14.11.3>, 15.28.2<http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~gbierman/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns-20220407/specs/patterns-switch-jls.html#jls-15.28.2>). Strictly speaking, the linkage error is not flagging a binary incompatible change of the sealed class, but more accurately a migration incompatible change of the sealed class.

I think we should back away from ICCE here as well, and put this in the MatchException bucket too.  Then:

 - a switch throws NPE if the operand is null;
 - an _enum switch_ throws ICCE when encountering a novel constant;
 - all other remainder errors are MatchException.

File away for future use, that these clauses will have to be extended to include other exhaustive pattern-aware constructs, like let.
14.11.1 Switch Blocks

The grammar for CaseOrDefaultLabel seems like it could be profitably refactored to reflect more of the restrictions:

    CaseOrDefaultLabel
        case (null | CaseConstant) {, CaseConstant }
        case [null, ] Pattern { WhenClause }
        case [null, ] default
        default

and then you don't have to enumerate as many of the restrictions of what can combine with what.

Will have a think about that.

It is a compile-time error if a when expression has the value false.

... is a constant expression and has the value false ?

Corrected.


  *   A pattern case element p is switch compatible with T if p is assignable to type T (14.30.3<http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~gbierman/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns-20220407/specs/patterns-switch-jls.html#jls-14.30.3>).

Isn't this cast-convertible?  If the selector is String and the pattern is `Object o`, o is not assignable to String, but it is cast-convertible.

Actually it’s a typo, it’s supposed to read “applicable” instead of assignable! Corrected


A switch label is said to dominate another switch label

Can we say that in a pattern switch, default dominates everything, which has the effect of forcing the default to the bottom?


We could do. I wasn’t sure that we had settled on that design - there was some discussion on this list.


 if there are values for which both apply and there is not an obvious preference

Is this really what we mean?  Don't we really mean that the first one matches everything the second one does?

Corrected.

A set of case elements is exhaustive

This is a nit, but couldn't this be its own subsection?  This section is getting long and varied.

Let me have a think about that.


 T if T is downcast convertible to U

Is this right?  Upcast convertibility is OK too -- you can match `Object o` to a target of `String`, and vice versa.

Corrected.


If the type R is a raw type (4.8<https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se18/html/jls-4.html#jls-4.8>) then the type T must be a raw type, or vice versa; otherwise a compile-time error occurs.

Is this the right restriction?  What we want here (for this iteration) is that if R is generic, we specify the type parameters.  But this is not the same thing.  I would think we would want to say here something like "if the class of R is a generic class, R cannot be raw".

Corrected.

whose type names R

missing a word

Corrected.



  1.  A switch label that supports a pattern p applies if the value matches p (14.30.2<http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~gbierman/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns-20220407/specs/patterns-switch-jls.html#jls-14.30.2>). If pattern matching completes abruptly then determining which switch label applies completes abruptly for the same reason.

I think this is carried over from the previous round?  Or do we not resolve total type patterns to any at the top level of a switch?


  1.  If no case label matches but there is a default label, then the default label matches. If neither of these rules apply to any of the switch labels in the switch block, then a switch label that supports a default applies.

Don't we need a clause that says "if there is no default, a MatchException is thrown"?

If pattern matching completes abruptly then the process of determining which switch label applies completes abruptly for the same reason.

Doesn't it complete abruptly with MatchException?  Or can PM only complete abruptly with ME as well?

I think perhaps you are misreading this section. This is just determining which label applies (none applies is a good answer too). The dealing with the consequences is taken care of in sections 14.11.3 for switch statements and 15.28.2 for switch expressions.


A type pattern that does not appear as an element in a record component pattern list is called a top-level type pattern.

For future: "or array component pattern list"

Ack.

The pattern variable declared by an any pattern has a type, which is a reference type.

Is this still true?  What if I have `record R(int x) {}` and `case R(var x)`?  The type of x is not a reference type.  Same for `case R(int x)`.

Corrected.


A pattern p is said to be unconditional at a type T if every value of type T will match p (after p has been resolved at type T (14.30.2<http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~gbierman/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns/PatternSwitchPlusRecordPatterns-20220407/specs/patterns-switch-jls.html#jls-14.30.2>)), and is defined as follows:

An any pattern is unconditional at all T?

So any patterns are not included in these compile-time analyses - they are an artefact of resolving patterns, which takes places afterwards.

Thanks,
Gavin
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