Compile-time type hierarchy information in pattern switch

[Mark Raynsford]

On 2018-04-03T12:36:43 -0400
Brian Goetz <brian.goetz at oracle.com> wrote:
>
> Here's one that I suspect we're not expecting to recover terribly well 
> from: hierarchy inversion.  Suppose at compile time A <: B.  So the 
> following is a sensible switch body:
> 
>      case String: println("String"); break;
>      case Object: println("Object"); break;
> 
> Now, imagine that by runtime, String no longer extends Object, but 
> instead Object absurdly extends String.  Do we still expect the above to 
> print String for all Strings, and Object for everything else?  Or is the 
> latter arm now dead at runtime, even though it wouldn't compile after 
> the change?  Or is this now UB, because it would no longer compile?

I'm still giving thought to everything you've written, but I am
wondering: How feasible is it to get the above to fail early with an
informative exception/Error?

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