No type inference from is!

[jamesderlin]

• Dart SDK 2.0.0
• Linux, also tested with dartpad

The following code is accepted without error:

class Base {
}

class Derived extends Base {
  void foo() {
  }
}

void main() {
  Base d = Derived();
  if (d is Derived) {
    d.foo();
  }
}

However, if I invert the d is Derived check:

  if (d is! Derived) {
  } else {
    d.foo();
  }

then I get an error:

Error: The method 'foo' isn't defined for the class '#lib1::Base'.

(The same thing happens if I try !(d is Derived).)

This seems inconsistent. Couldn't we internally invert is! and the if-else clauses to achieve the same behavior as the first version?

(And if anyone is wondering why I don't just always use the first version, there are cases where one path has much more code than the other, and for readability I prefer to have the simpler block first, e.g.:

if (d is! Derived) {
  // assert(false); // Or run some other failure handler
} else {
  d.foo();
  // Followed by a lot more code.
}

Of course, in that particular case, it be even nicer if:

assert(d is Derived);
d.foo();

worked.)

[matanlurey]

This looks like it is ~mostly covered by @munificent's #29624, which has stalled for quite some time. @mit-mit does it make sense to try and file some tracking issue(s) in dart-lang/language for this (and related) cases?

@jamesderlin:

assert(d is Derived);

An assert statement cannot be used to change the code, as it is only executed during development mode(s). This means your program would work different (and promote type differently) in release and development mode, which sounds quite bad.

[lrhn]

This is a thing that we are aware of and want to address at some point in the future. If we introduce non-nullable types, we will need non-null promotion as well, so revisiting type promotion at that point seems reasonable.

As Matan says, you can't use assert to guarantee anything since it's not always executed.
An alternative could be x as Derived; which would always throw if x is not a Derived (or null, but let's assume a non-nullable type here).

[bwilkerson]

@lrhn Is there a language issue tracking the need for better type promotion?

[munificent]

If we introduce non-nullable types, we will need non-null promotion as well, so revisiting type promotion at that point seems reasonable.

Better type promotion is useful even without non-nullable types, so I think it's good to keep in mind that we can do earlier if we want.

[jamesderlin]

An assert statement cannot be used to change the code, as it is only executed during development mode(s). This means your program would work different (and promote type differently) in release and development mode, which sounds quite bad.

I realize that assert is not executed in release builds. However, conceivably its expression could still be used for type inference at compilation time. (I also presume that it's a lot of work and probably isn't worth doing.)

[munificent]

Moving this over to: dart-lang/language#80