Re: [9fans] Typestr usage (inspired by libgeometry)

[Skip Tavakkolian <skip.tavakkolian@gmail.com>]

if you restricted the typestr to integral types (or composition of
integral types), would there be any garbage collection issues?

On Tue, Dec 16, 2025 at 8:19 AM <ori@eigenstate.org> wrote:
>
> Quoth sirjofri via 9fans <9fans@9fans.net>:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I just had a quick thought about using typestr in libgeometry. However, I noticed that typestr is nowhere used in 9front at all (besides the compiler that implements it as a feature).
> >
> > Thinking about how typestr provides pretty cool syntactic sugar, I was wondering why that's the case? Is there a goal to maintain the C standard as far as it makes sense, or is it compatibility between plan 9 systems?
> >
> > Before thinking about it too much, I just ask here.
> >
> > I personally only use it in some cases where it makes sense, in cases similar to the complex number example I was able to find online[1]. I don't think it should be used to hide things, just to provide the ability to write code that's easier to read and understand. For example, instead of combining matrices using functions, I could just type S * R * S, or to add vectors, I can just V + W. For plan 9, adding Points would be trivial.
> >
> > Note that I'm _not_ proposing to update all of the routines to use this feature. I'd just like to know your thoughts about using it (or not using it).
> >
> > sirjofri
> >
> > [1] https://github.com/henesy/plan9-typestr/blob/master/typestr.md
> >
> 
> It's a subtly wrong feature -- it looks cute, but doesn't
> generalize well in C. Finishing it would imply garbage
> collection (or at least destructors), which have their
> own disadvantages.
> 
> It may work for some things. This, for example, is fine:
> 
> typestr mpint ...;
> 
> mpint *x = mpnew(42);
> mpint *y = mpnew(123);
> mpint *z = x * y; //ok, fine
> mpfree(x);
> mpfree(y);
> 
> but what about:
> 
> mpint *x = mpnew(42);
> mpint *y = mpnew(123);
> mpint *z = x * (y - x) * (y - x);
> mpfree(x);
> mpfree(y);
> 
> There are intermediate expressions along the way
> which would need to be allocated; who frees them?
> 

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