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Add info about ! and impl Trait #76099

Merged
merged 13 commits into from
Sep 2, 2020
37 changes: 35 additions & 2 deletions library/std/src/primitive_docs.rs
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -194,14 +194,47 @@ mod prim_bool {}
/// # `!` and traits
///
/// When writing your own traits, `!` should have an `impl` whenever there is an obvious `impl`
/// which doesn't `panic!`. As it turns out, most traits can have an `impl` for `!`. Take [`Debug`]
/// which doesn't `panic!`. The reason is that functions returning an `impl Trait` cannot have
/// divergence, i.e., returning `!`, as their only possible code path. As an example, this code
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/// doesn't compile:
///
/// ```compile_fail
/// use core::ops::Add;
///
/// fn foo() -> impl Add<u32> {
/// unimplemented!()
/// }
/// ```
///
/// While this code does:
///
/// ```
/// use core::ops::Add;
///
/// fn foo() -> impl Add<u32> {
/// if true {
/// unimplemented!()
/// } else {
/// 0
/// }
/// }
/// ```
///
/// The reason is that, in the first example, there are many possible types for `!` to coerce
/// to, because the function's return value is polymorphic. However, in the second example, the
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/// other branch returns `0` which has a concrete type that `!` can be coerced to. See issue
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/// [#36375] for more information on this quirk of `!`.
///
/// [#36375]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/36375
///
/// As it turns out, though, most traits can have an `impl` for `!`. Take [`Debug`]
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Most -> all? Not sure if that's true but it seems like it should be.

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That's what I thought too; I would think you would be able to impl any trait for ! since it can never :) exist. The body of it could just be panic!("This shouldn't happen!").

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Or even simpler, *self, yeah.

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You mean because it can be coerced to any concrete type, so it can just return itself?

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-> impl Trait is not allowed in trait methods. So any trait it implemented would require returning some concrete type. Since ! can be coerced to any type, it would be coerced to the required type.

/// for example:
///
/// ```
/// #![feature(never_type)]
/// # use std::fmt;
/// # trait Debug {
/// # fn fmt(&self, formatter: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result;
/// # fn fmt(&self, formatter: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result;
/// # }
Comment on lines 236 to 238
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Why is Debug defined here instead of imported?

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I'm going to delete this redefinition and import it instead.

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Looks like it's because of the orphan rule or something, so I had to revert my change :(

/// impl Debug for ! {
/// fn fmt(&self, formatter: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
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